ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Mar 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
60 Years of U: Perspectives on resources, demand, and the evolving role of nuclear energy
Recent years have seen growing global interest in nuclear energy and rising confidence in the sector. For the first time since the early 2000s, there is renewed optimism about the industry’s future. This change is driven by several major factors: geopolitical developments that highlight the need for secure energy supplies, a stronger focus on resilient energy systems, national commitments to decarbonization, and rising demand for clean and reliable electricity.
Charles S. Vann, Erlan S. Bliss, James E. Murray
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 26 | Number 3 | November 1994 | Pages 833-836
National Ignition Facility | Proceedings of the Eleventh Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy New Orleans, Louisiana June 19-23, 1994 | doi.org/10.13182/FST94-A40258
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Accurate placement of hundreds of focused laser beams on target is necessary to achieve success in the National Ignition Facility (NIF). The current system requirement is ≤7 µrad error in output pointing and ≤1 mm error in focusing. To accommodate several system shots per day, a target alignment system must be able to align the target to chamber center, inject an alignment beam to represent each shot beam, and point and focus the alignment beams onto the target in about one hour. At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, we have developed a target alignment concept and built a prototype to validate the approach. The concept comprises three systems: the chamber center reference, target alignment sensor, and target alignment beams.