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Meeting Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
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Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
July 2025
Latest News
The U.S. Million Person Study of Low-Dose-Rate Health Effects
There is a critical knowledge gap regarding the health consequences of exposure to radiation received gradually over time. While there is a plethora of studies on the risks of adverse outcomes from both acute and high-dose exposures, including the landmark study of atomic bomb survivors, these are not characteristic of the chronic exposure to low-dose radiation encountered in occupational and public settings. In addition, smaller cohorts have limited numbers leading to reduced statistical power.
E. I. Moses, J. D. Lindl, M. L. Spaeth, R. W. Patterson, R. H. Sawicki, L. J. Atherton, P. A. Baisden, L. J. Lagin, D. W. Larson, B. J. MacGowan, G. H. Miller, D. C. Rardin, V. S. Roberts, B. M. Van Wonterghem, P. J. Wegner
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 69 | Number 1 | January-February 2016 | Pages 1-24
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST15-128
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has been operational since March 2009 and has been transitioning to a user facility supporting ignition science, high energy density stockpile science, national security applications, and fundamental science. The facility has achieved its design goal of 1.8 MJ and 500 TW of 3ω light on target, and has performed target experiments with 1.9 MJ at peak powers of 410 TW. The National Ignition Campaign (NIC), established by the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration in 2005, was responsible for transitioning NIF from a construction project to a national user facility. Besides the operation and optimization of the use of the NIF laser, the NIC program was responsible for developing capabilities including target fabrication facilities; cryogenic layering capabilities; over 60 optical, X-ray, and nuclear diagnostic systems; experimental platforms; and a wide range of other NIF facility infrastructure. This paper provides a summary of some of the key experimental results for NIF to date, an overview of the NIF facility capabilities, and the challenges that were met in achieving these capabilities. They are covered in more detail in the papers that follow.