Fusion in the NNSA: Strengthening Science and National Security

1. Fusion in the NNSA Donald L. Cook Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs National Nuclear Security Administration Fusion Power Associates Annual Meeting December 1-2, 2010 Washington, DC

2. Defense Programs supports science as a foundation for national security • Through scientific pre-eminence the U.S. has maintained the nuclear deterrent for 20 years without testing. • Science underpins our nuclear security and enables policy and treaty decisions. • I have elevated science within Defense Programs (NA-11) • Strengthens and recognizes key role. • A new science council has been formed to advise on critical decisions. Science is more essential for our prosperity, our security, our health, our environment, and our quality of life than it has ever been before.  -- President Obama at the National Academy of Science

3. Defense Programs (NA-10) Jeffrey P. Harrell (NA-15) Phillip A. Niedzielski-Eichner (NA-14) Assistant Deputy Administrator for Secure Transportation Assistant Deputy Administrator for Planning, Resources and Integration August 10, 2010 Staff Director Joseph J. Maguire Deputy Administrator Donald L. Cook Joint Programs (NA-10.1) Vacant Science Council Dimitri F. Kusnezov, Chair Principal Assistant Deputy Administrator for Military Application Brig Gen Garrett Harencak Sites Chief Performance Officer (NA-10.2) Roger A. Lewis James J. McConnell (NA-17) Christopher Deeney (NA-11) William S. Goodrum (NA-12) Assistant Deputy Administrator for Nuclear Safety, Nuclear Operations, and Governance Reform Assistant Deputy Administrator for Stockpile Stewardship Assistant Deputy Administrator for Stockpile Management NNSA Site Offices Michael A. Thompson (NA-16) LASO, LSO, SSO, NSO, KCSO, PSO, SRSO, and YSO Assistant Deputy Administrator for Infrastructure and Construction

4. Office ofStockpile Stewardship (NA-11) Christopher Deeney, ADA Andi H. Kasarsky, Senior Advisor Col. Mark M. Visosky, Dep for Ops Assistant Deputy Administrator for Stockpile Stewardship NA-11 Office of Defense Science Director Ralph F. Schneider NA-113 Office of Inertial Confinement Fusion Acting Director Ralph F. Schneider NA-112 Office of Advanced Simulation and Computing Director Robert E. Meisner NA-114 Office of Nuclear Experiments Acting Director Robert J. Hanrahan NA-115 Office of Institutional Programs Director Jamileh N. Soudah NA-111 Chief Scientist Allan A. Hauer

5. Three major DOE missions rely on High Energy Density Laboratory Plasmas (HEDLP) for success • National Security • Stockpile Stewardship • Protecting against technological surprise • Fundamental Science • Stewardship of HED • Cross-cut with materials science mission • Energy • Inertial Fusion Energy Sciences  energy-related HED

6. Primary phase Super-critical assembly Primary energy production Energy transfer X-rays transfer energy from primary to secondary HE phase High explosive creates supercritical assembly Secondary phase Secondary produces energy, explosion and radiation Nuclear Phase (UGTs NIF and, Z) Pre-nuclear phase (UGTs, sub-crits, DARHT, JASPER, etc) After the explosive phase, weapons rapidly evolve into the HED and plasma regimes Weapons operation proceeds through the conditions of planetary interiors, to stellar interiors

7. NNSA mission needs have driven the creation of HEDP environments that are ideal for the study of complex HED plasmas and materials Astrophysical and planetary science applications High Mach Number unstable flows Jets Rayleigh Taylor Instabilities Materials in the Extreme HED laboratory experiments MHD, thermo-electric, and “anomalous” heating Mass Outflow Shocks and radiation transport

8. The ICF Program has created an extraordinary array of facilities for HED research • National Ignition Facility (NIF) • Only access to burning plasma conditions • Important mission experiments have already been performed • Omega EP • Sophisticated high irradiance capabilities • Important venue for advanced fusion research • Z Machine • Key venue for weapons materials science measurements • Outstanding new results at 4 Mbar. • Enormous increase in computational power

9. High energy lasers and the Z Machine have been used to extend solid state physics to the 10 Mbar regime Ramp compression shows diamond is stable and strong to 8Mbar Ramp laser intensity to produce shockless compression 8 New cold-solid-state ramp compressed data Pressure (Mbar) 4 Calculated Cold curve Diamond cell data 0 4 5 6 Density (g/cc) • Edwards, et al. (PRL 04) • Smith, et al. (PRL 06) • Bradley, et al. (PRL 08) • Eggert et al. (SCCM 07) Bradley et al NIF designs use the same technique to study solids to many >30 Mbar

10. The National Ignition Facility is poised to make extraordinary contributions Science, 327, 1228, Glenzer et al A first THD shot was conducted in September.

11. The achievement of igniting conditions will open new frontiers in plasma research • Plasma temperatures > 20 keV ; compressed densities > 1000 gm / cm2 ;pressures ~ 1 Tbar • The high performance implosions needed for ignition can also be employed in a variety of non-ignition basic science investigations. • Planetary and astro- physics • Materials under extreme conditions • Performing detailed measurements under igniting conditions will present a considerable diagnostic challenge.

12. NNSA relies on intermediate scale plasma science facilities for basic science support • Examples of intermediate size plasma facilities: • Jupiter at LLNL (lasers): support of NIC and NIF; mission; users • Trident at LANL (laser): support of NIF and NIC; mission; users • Texas Petawatt at UTX (laser): discovery-driven research; users • Z-Beamlet / Z Petawatt at SNL (laser): diagnostic for ZR; users • Nevada Terawatt at UNR: pulsed power Intermediate-size plasma facilities provide both direct and indirect mission support, and we are encouraging user access at our intermediate facilities

13. A portion of time at NNSA Facilities will be devoted to basic science investigations • The NNSA encourages the exploitation of its HEDP facilities by the academic scientific community. • NNSA will provide resources to establish user programs and dedicate a fraction of the shots to fundamental science experiments. • Open proposal and peer review processes will be employed. • NNSA strongly encourages technical competition

14. As the head of Defense Programs, I will expect technical competition in the HEDP Program – this looks like … • Multiple approaches to solving the major challenges to ensure creativity, peer review and successful completion • Breadth in the community – the best in laboratories, industry, and academia working together • Outside engagement and applying our tools, methods and scientists to other challenging science issues • Teaming with the Office of Science and peer reviewed competition where appropriate • Support for and access to a range of different technologies and facility scale (intermediate to NIF) Deuterium EOS is a poster child for how technical competition benefits our program.

15. NNSA collaborates with the DOE Office of Science in encouraging HED basic science • NNSA is committed to providing the required resources to NIF, Z and Omega each year both to establish user programs on these facilities and to dedicate a fraction of the shots on each facility for experiments on fundamental science proposed and led by members of the academic community. The selection of those experiments will proceed through an open, transparent proposal and peer review process similar to that employed at Office of Science facilities. We hope that you will encourage your scientific communities to investigate this opportunity

16. NNSA / Office of Science Collaboration in HED Basic Science (cont.) Joint sponsorship of Workshop: Basic Research Directions at the National Ignition Facility –Spring 2011 • Purpose: • Inform broad science communities about capabilities at NIF and other HEDP platforms. • Solicit input in identifying and prioritizing research connected to the Office of Science that could benefit from utilization of these facilities. • Involves NNSA, Office of Science programs: Nuclear Physics (NP), High Energy Physics (HEP), Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Fusion Energy Science (FES) • Tri-Chairs: • John Sarrao (Los Alamos), Mike Wiescher (Notre Dame), Kim Budil (Livermore) • Organizing Committee:  • Paul Drake, Roger Falcone, Rus Hemley, Bill Goldstein, Chan Joshi, Margaret Murnane, Richard Petrasso, Alan Wootton • Office of Science/NNSA staff: • Jim Glownia, Mike Kreisler

17. The DOE is beginning to develop an approach toward inertial fusion energy An NAS study has been commissioned. Defense Programs will be working closely with the Office of Science.

18. Inertial Fusion Energy- a snapshot in 2010 • Fusion Energy – no carbon dioxide, modest nuclear waste, • 50 years of exploration – ignition at NIF will be key • NAS to provide recommendations on IFE priorities • Timeline and demonstration potentially similar to ITER

19. Inertial Fusion Energy 2010Principles applied by Working Group • Focus on IFE specific program that relies on ICF and FES but does not replace them • Look at fastest route to demonstrate most critical elements • Rapid repeated ignition (once per second for hours) • Using technology applicable for steady and affordable energy source • Flexible management and budget with risks • Driver technology and specific ignition approach identified as critical components • 5 years to down select, • Use existing facilities including NIF

20. Backup Slides

21. HEDP is one of the core disciplines of stewardship science Scientific Challenge Incredible Tools HEDP research allows us to validate our models in environments that remove the need for nuclear testing - the level of challenge requires technical competition

22. Department of Energy and other agencies have defined major challenges for the field of high energy density physics

23. High Energy Density Physics is a key discipline underpinning Stockpile Stewardship • Extreme conditions in temperature, density, pressure allow investigation of a large span of physical states. • These extreme conditions are required to meet national security needs but also enable contributions to a broad span of basics physics including astrophysics, materials in extreme conditions and many other sub-disciplines. • Stewardship of HED and plasma science provides essential support for the NNSA mission.

24. NNSA / Office of Science Collaboration in HED Basic Science(cont.) • Established Joint Program in HED Laboratory Plasmas • Funding from both NNSA and Office of Fusion Energy Science • Annual funding level $7 M • ~25 grants awarded • Joint Program awardees (H. Kapteyn and M. Murnane) won the 2010 Schawlow Prize in Laser Science and the 2010 R.W. Wood Prize from Optical Society of America • Held the 2009 ReNeW Workshop (Basic Research Needs for HED Laboratory Plasmas) • Report has just been published

25. NNSA collaborates with the DOE Office of Science in encouraging HED basic science Cont.

26. Technical competition will ensure that the best ideas are advanced • Competitive solicitation for science at ICF facilities • 40 proposals submitted 2010 • Joint programs with office of science • HEDLP: $7M, 25 grants • Healthy balance between large and small facilities to enable technical innovation selection of these experiments will proceed through an open, transparent proposal and peer-review process … - letter to Bill Brinkman