LLNL multi-user tandem laboratory

The Fast Ignition (FI) Concept for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) has the potential to provide a significant advance in the technical attractiveness of Inertial Fusion Energy reactors. FI differs from conventional “central hot spot” (CHS) target ignition by decoupling compression from heating: using a laser (or heavy ion beam or Z pinch) drive pulse (10’s of nanoseconds) to create a dense fuel and a second, much shorter (~10 picoseconds) high intensity pulse to ignite a small volume within the dense fuel. The physics of fast ignition process was the focus of our Advanced Concept Exploration (ACE) program. Ignition depends critically on two major issues involving Relativistic High Energy Density (RHED) physics: The laser-induced creation of fast electrons and their propagation in high-density plasmas. Our program has developed new experimental platforms, diagnostic packages, computer modeling analyses, and taken advantage of the increasing energy available at laser facilities to advance understanding of the fundamental physics underlying these issues. Our program had three thrust areas: • Understand the production and characteristics of fast electrons resulting from FI relevant laser-plasma interactions and their dependence on laser prepulse and laser pulse length. • Investigate the subsequent fast electron transport in solid and through hot (FI-relevant) plasmas. • Conduct and understand integrated core-heating experiments by comparison to simulations. Over the whole period of this project (three years for this contract), we have greatly advanced our fundamental understanding of the underlying properties in all three areas: • Comprehensive studies on fast electron source characteristics have shown that they are controlled by the laser intensity distribution and the topology and plasma density gradient. Laser pre-pulse induced pre-plasma in front of a solid surface results in increased stand-off distances from the electron origin to the high density target as well as large and erratic spread of the electron beam with increasing short pulse duration. We have demonstrated, using newly available higher contrast lasers, an improved energy coupling, painting a promising picture for FI feasibility. • Our detailed experiments and analyses of fast electron transport dependence on target material have shown that it is feasible to collimate fast electron beam by self-generated resistive magnetic fields in engineered targets with a rather simple geometry. Stable and collimated electron beam with spot size as small as 50-μm after >100-μm propagation distance (an angular divergence angle of 20°!) in solid density plasma targets has been demonstrated with FI-relevant (10-ps, >1-kJ) laser pulses Such collimated beam would meet the required heating beam size for FI. • Our new experimental platforms developed for the OMEGA laser (i.e., i) high resolution 8 keV backlighter platform for cone-in-shell implosion and ii) the 8 keV imaging with Cu-doped shell targets for detailed transport characterization) have enabled us to experimentally confirm fuel assembly from cone-in-shell implosion with record-high areal density. We have also made the first direct measurement of fast electron transport and spatial energy deposition in integrated FI experiments enabling the first experiment-based benchmarking of integrated simulation codes. Executing this program required a large team. It was managed as a collaboration between General Atomics (GA), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE). GA fulfills its responsibilities jointly with the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), The Ohio State University (OSU) and the University of Nevada at Reno (UNR). The division of responsibility was as follows: (1) LLE had primary leadership for channeling studies and the integrated energy transfer, (2) LLNL led the development of measurement methods, analysis, and deployment of diagnostics, and (3) GA together with UCSD, OSU and UNR studied the detailed energy-transfer physics. The experimental program was carried out using the Titan laser at the Jupiter Laser Facility at LLNL, the OMEGA and OMEGA EP lasers at LLE and the Texas Petawatt laser at the University of Texas, Austin. Modeling has been pursued on large computing facilities at LLNL, OSU, and UCSD using codes developed (by us and others) within the HEDLP program, commercial codes, and by leveraging existing simulations codes developed by the National Nuclear Security Administration ICF program. One important aspect of this program was the involvement and training of young scientists including postdoctoral fellows and graduate students. This project generated an impressive forty articles in high quality journals including nine (two under review) in Physical Review Letters during the three years of this grant and five graduate students completed their doctoral dissertations.

The Fast Ignition (FI) Concept for Inertial Confinement Fusion has the potential to provide a significant advance in the technical attractiveness of Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) reactors. FI differs from conventional “central hot spot” (CHS) target ignition by decoupling compression from heating: using the laser (or heavy ion beam or Z pinch) drive pulse (10’s of ns) to create a dense fuel and a second, much shorter (~10 ps) high intensity pulse to ignite a small region of it. There are two major physics issues concerning this concept; controlling the laser-induced generation of large electron currents and their propagation through high density plasmas. This project has addressed these two significant scientific issues in Relativistic High Energy Density (RHED) physics. Learning to control relativistic laser matter interaction (and the limits and potential thereof) will enable a wide range of applications. While these physics issues are of specific interest to inertial fusion energy science, they are also important for a wide range of other HED phenomena, including high energy ion beam generation, isochoric heating of materials, and the development of high brightness x-ray sources. Generating, controlling, and understanding the extreme conditions needed to advance this science has proved to be challenging: Our studies have pushed the boundaries of physics understanding and are at the very limits of experimental, diagnostic, and simulation capabilities in high energy density laboratory physics (HEDLP). Our research strategy has been based on pursuing the fundamental physics underlying the Fast Ignition (FI) concept. We have performed comprehensive study of electron generation and transport in fast-ignition targets with experiments, theory, and numerical modeling. A major issue is that the electrons produced in these experiments cannot be measured directly—only effects due to their transport. We focused mainly on x-ray continuum photons from bremsstrahlung and x-ray line radiation from K-shell fluorescence. Integrated experiments, which combine target compression with short-pulse laser heating, yield additional information on target heating efficiency. This indirect way of studying the underlying behavior of the electrons must be validated with computational modeling to understand the physics and improve the design. This program execution required a large, well-organized team and it was managed by a joint Collaboration between General Atomics (GA), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE). The Collaboration was formed 8 years ago to understand the physics issues of the Fast Ignition concept, building on the strengths of each partner. GA fulfills its responsibilities jointly with the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), The Ohio State University (OSU) and the University of Nevada at Reno (UNR). Since RHED physics is pursued vigorously in many countries, international researchers have been an important part of our efforts to make progress. The division of responsibility was as follows: (1) LLE had primary leadership for channeling studies and the integrated energy transfer, (2) LLNL led the development of measurement methods, analysis, and deployment of diagnostics, and (3) GA together with UCSD, OSU and UNR studied the detailed energy-transfer physics. The experimental program was carried out using the Titan laser at the Jupiter Laser Facility at LLNL, the OMEGA and OMEGA EP lasers at LLE and the Texas Petawatt laser (TPW) at UT Austin. Modeling has been pursued on large computing facilities at LLNL, OSU, and UCSD using codes developed (by us and others) within the HEDLP program, commercial codes, and by leveraging existing supercomputer codes developed by the NNSA ICF program. This Consortium brought together all the components—resources, facilities, and personnel—necessary to accomplish its aggressive goals. The ACE Program has been strongly collaborative, taking advantage of the expertise of the participating institutions to provide a research effort that is far greater than the sum of its parts. The results of this work have firmly strengthened the scientific foundation from which the viability of FI and other applications can be evaluated. Program execution has also led to improved diagnostics for probing dense, hot plasmas, detailed understanding of high-current, relativistic electron energy generation and transport across boundaries and into dense plasmas, and greatly enhanced predictive modeling capabilities. One important aspect of this program was the involvement and training of young scientists including postdoctoral fellows and graduate students. During the entire 8 years of FI and ACE project period since 2005, more than fifteen graduate students completed their doctoral dissertations including three from OSU and two from UCSD in last three years. This project generated an impressive forty articles in high quality journals including nine (including two under review) in Physical Review Letters during the last funding period since 2011.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facility operated by the University of California, serves as a national resource of scientific, technical, and engineering capability. The Laboratory`s mission focuses on nuclear weapons and national security, and over the years has been broadened to include areas such as strategic defense, energy, the environment, biomedicine, technology transfer, the economy, and education. The Laboratory carries out this multifaceted mission in compliance with local, state, and federal environmental regulatory requirements. It does so with the support of the Environmental Protection Department, which is responsible for environmental monitoring and analysis, hazardous waste management, environmental restoration, and ensuring compliance with environmental laws and regulations. LLNL comprises two sites: the Livermore site and Site 300. The Livermore site occupies an area of 3.28 square kilometers on the eastern edge of Livermore, California. Site 300, LLNL`s experimental testing site, is located 24 kilometers to the east in the Altamont Hills, and occupies an area of 30.3 square kilometers. Environmental monitoring activities are conducted at both sites as well as in surrounding areas. This summary provides an overview of LLNL`s environmental activities in 1994, including radiological and nonradiological sampling and surveillance monitoring, remediation, assessment of radiological releases and doses, and determination of the impact of LLNL operations on the environment and public health.

This document was prepared to support u.s. Department of Energy / National Nuclear Security Agency (DOE/NNSA) compliance with Sections 106 and 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a DOE/NNSA laboratory and is engaged in determining the historic status of its properties at both its main site in Livermore, California, and Site 300, its test site located eleven miles from the main site. LLNL contracted with the authors via Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) to prepare a historic context statement for properties at both sites and to provide assessments of those properties of potential historic interest. The report contains an extensive historic context statement and the assessments of individual properties and groups of properties determined, via criteria established in the context statement, to be of potential interest. The historic context statement addresses the four contexts within which LLNL falls: Local History, World War II History (WWII), Cold War History, and Post-Cold War History. Appropriate historic preservation themes relevant to LLNL's history are delineated within each context. In addition, thresholds are identified for historic significance within each of the contexts based on the explication and understanding of the Secretary of the Interior's Guidelines for determining eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places. The report identifies specific research areas and events in LLNL's history that are of interest and the portions of the built environment in which they occurred. Based on that discussion, properties of potential interest are identified and assessments of them are provided. Twenty individual buildings and three areas of potential historic interest were assessed. The final recommendation is that, of these, LLNL has five individual historic buildings, two sets of historic objects, and two historic districts eligible for the National Register. All are eligible within the Cold War History context. They are listed in the table below, along with the Cold War preservation theme, period of significance, and criterion under which they are eligible.

It is planned to use the tritium dose model, DCART (Doses from Chronic Atmospheric Releases of Tritium), to reconstruct dose to the hypothetical maximally exposed individual from annual routine releases of tritiated water (HTO) and tritiated hydrogen gas (HT) from all Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) facilities and from the Sandia National (SNL) Laboratory's Tritium Research Laboratory over the last fifty years. DCART has been described in Part 1 of ''Historical Doses From Tritiated Water And Tritiated Hydrogen Gas Released To The Atmosphere from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)'' (UCRL-TR-205083). This report (Part 2) summarizes information about annual routine releases of tritium from LLNL (and SNL) since 1953. Historical records were used to derive facility-specific annual data (e.g., source terms, dilution factors, ambient air concentrations, meteorological data, including absolute humidity and rainfall, etc.) and their associated uncertainty distributions. These data will be used as input to DCART to calculate annual dose for each year of LLNL operations. Sources of information are carefully referenced, and assumptions are documented. Confidence on all data post-1974 is quite high. Prior to that, further adjustment to the estimated uncertainty may have to be made if more information comes to light.

The mission of the Engineering Research, Development, and Technology Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is to develop the knowledge base, process technologies, specialized equipment, tools and facilities to support current and future LLNL programs. Engineering`s efforts are guided by a strategy that results in dual benefit: first, in support of Department of Energy missions, such as national security through nuclear deterrence; and second, in enhancing the nation`s economic competitiveness through our collaboration with U.S. industry in pursuit of the most cost- effective engineering solutions to LLNL programs. To accomplish this mission, the Engineering Research, Development, and Technology Program has two important goals: (1) identify key technologies relevant to LLNL programs where we can establish unique competencies, and (2) conduct high-quality research and development to enhance our capabilities and establish ourselves as the world leaders in these technologies. To focus Engineering`s efforts technology {ital thrust areas} are identified and technical leaders are selected for each area. The thrust areas are comprised of integrated engineering activities, staffed by personnel from the nine electronics and mechanical engineering divisions, and from other LLNL organizations. This annual report, organized by thrust area, describes Engineering`s activities for fiscal year 1996. The report provides timely summaries of objectives, methods, and key results from eight thrust areas: Computational Electronics and Electromagnetics; Computational Mechanics; Microtechnology; Manufacturing Technology; Materials Science and Engineering; Power Conversion Technologies; Nondestructive Evaluation; and Information Engineering. Readers desiring more information are encouraged to contact the individual thrust area leaders or authors. 198 refs., 206 figs., 16 tabs.

A Working Group Meeting on Heavy Vehicle Aerodynamic Drag was held at NASA Ames Research Center on September 23, 2002. The purpose of the meeting was to present and discuss technical details on the experimental and computational work in progress and future project plans. Representatives from the Department of Energy (DOE)/Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy/Office of FreedomCAR & Vehicle Technologies, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), NASA Ames Research Center (NASA), University of Southern California (USC), California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Freightliner, and Portland State University participated in the meeting. This report contains the technical presentations (viewgraphs) delivered at the Meeting, briefly summarizes the comments and conclusions, and outlines the future action items. The meeting began with an introduction by the Project Lead Rose McCallen of LLNL, where she emphasized that the world energy consumption is predicted to relatively soon exceed the available resources (i.e., fossil, hydro, non-breeder fission). This short fall is predicted to begin around the year 2050. Minimizing vehicle aerodynamic drag will significantly reduce our Nation's dependence on foreign oil resources and help with our world-wide fuel shortage. Rose also mentioned that educating the populace and researchers as to our world energy issues is important and that our upcoming United Engineering Foundation (UEF) Conference on ''The Aerodynamics of Heavy Vehicles: Trucks, Busses, and Trains'' was one way our DOE Consortium was doing this. Mentioned were the efforts of Fred Browand from USC in organizing and attracting internationally recognized speakers to the Conference. Rose followed with an overview of the DOE project goals, deliverables, and FY03 activities. The viewgraphs are attached at the end of this report. Sid Diamond of DOE discussed the reorganization of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and that the Office of Heavy Vehicle Technology is now part of the Office of FreedomCAR & Vehicle Technologies. Sid reviewed the FY03 budget and provided information on some plans for FY04. The soon to be posted DOE request for proposals from industry for projects related to parasitic energy losses was discussed. A minimum of 50% cost share by industry will be required and the proposal must be submitted by industry. Collaborative efforts in aerodynamic drag with members of the DOE consortium are encouraged. Sid also mentioned interest in aerodynamic drag contribution due to wheel wells and underbody flow. Sid also mentioned his continued interest in the application of our computational and experimental expertise to the area of locomotive and railcar aerodynamics for the reduction of drag effects and thus, the reduction of fuel consumption by trains. In summary, the technical presentations at the meeting included a review of experimental results and plans by GTRI, USC, and NASA Ames, the computational results from LLNL and SNL for the integrated tractor-trailer benchmark geometry called the Ground Transportation System (GTS) model, and by LLNL for the tractor-trailer gap and trailer wake flow, and turbulence model development and benchmark simulations being investigated by Caltech. USC is also investigating an acoustic drag reduction device that has been named ''Mozart'', GTRI continues their investigation of a blowing device, and LLNL presented their ideas for 2 new base drag reduction devices. ANL presented their plans for a DOE supported Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Paccar Truck Company utilizing commercial software tools to simulate the flow and drag for an actual tractor and showed the results of some preliminary griding attempts. The attendees also had the opportunity to tour the 12-ft pressure wind tunnel the machine shop were the Generic Conventional Model (GCM, a.k.a. SLRT) was being readied for the scheduled November experiments. Much of the discussion involved wind tunnel testing plans, analysis of existing experimental data, investigations of drag reduction devices, simulation results, and needed modeling improvements. Further details are provided in the attached viewgraphs.

The sanitary sewer system at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is designed to collect and transport wastewater from LLNL and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). The system was installed in stages, beginning in 1942, and underwent a massive rehabilitation between 1993 and 1995. The existing system is a shallow small pipe collection system of 96,300 linear feet that consists of mainlines, building laterals, manholes, waste retention facilities, a diversion facility and a monitoring station. On average, each day nearly 300,000 gallons of wastewater from LLNL and SNL enters the City of Livermore collection system from an outfall at LLNL's northwest corner.

Most large telescopes are now implementing sodium laser guide star (LGS) adaptive optics (AO) systems. Most of these systems plan to use the Shack-Hartmann approach for wavefront sensing. In these systems, the laser spots that are imaged in the Shack-Hartmann subapertures suffer spot elongation due to the 10 km extent of the sodium layer. The spot elongation extends radially from the projection point, and increases linearly with the distance the subaperture is separated from the laser. For 8-meter class telescopes with laser projection behind the secondary mirror, the spot elongation is ~1 arc sec at the edge of the pupil, and does not significantly affect the performance of the AO system. However, for the coming generation of extremely large telescopes, sodium LGS spot elongation will significantly degrade the quality of wavefront measurement. Attention should now be given to the development of technologies that can reduce or eliminate the spot elongation problem. The laser spot elongation can be greatly reduced by projecting the sodium laser in a series of short (1-3 μsec) pulses. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has been funded to develop a pulsed fiber laser. In parallel, a new kind of wavefront sensor detector must be developed to properly sense the pulsed laser return. In this paper, we present our project that will develop a novel CCD which is optimized for sensing the return from a pulsed sodium LGS. Our CCD design uses custom pixel morphology that aligns the pixels of each subaperture with the radial extension of the LGS spot. This pixel geometry will allow each subaperture to follow the yellow-orange rabbit (i.e. the 589 nm laser pulse) as it traverses the sodium layer, providing optimal sampling of a limited number of detected photons. This CCD will attain photon-noise limited performance at high frame rates, using MOSFET amplifiers that exist today (2-3 electrons noise). However, we seek even lower noise amplifiers, and as part of our project, we are testing a new generation of JFET amplifiers that may attain sub-electron noise performance. The test CCD will be a standard geometry, 160x160 pixel image area with split frame transfer and a total of 20 readout ports. This test CCD will easily surpass the performance of the CCDs presently in use in astronomical AO systems, and should provide a significant performance improvement in the AO systems of the 8-10 meter telescopes. This project is a collaboration between the Keck Observatory, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, SciMeasure Analytical Systems, Gemini Observatory, Lick Observatory, the University of California, and the Rockwell Scientific Company. Our efforts are being coordinated with the developments at LLNL so that the pulsed laser and novel geometry CCD can be mated together in 3 years when both are fully developed.

Authors

The goal of fusion energy is to produce significantly more energy from fusion reactions than is input into the device. One of the products of fusion reactions is neutrons, which, due to their lack of charge, provide a unique view into the parameters of the device. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) have designed, assembled, and fielded a robust and portable neutron detection system known as PANDA (Portable and Adaptable Neutron Diagnostics for ARPA-E). This detector suite consists of three LaBr activation detectors that are calibrated to give a total neutron yield on shot, and twenty-four scintillators coupled to photo-multiplier tubes (SPMT). The SPMTs can be configured to attain spatial, temporal and/or energy information from fusion neutrons. The system was designed to be portable and is compartmentalized so that individual components can be used at different fusion facilities. During the duration of this work, part of the system was installed at the FuZE facility, a part of Zap Energy. Another component was installed that the CESZAR facility at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) to support experiments by Magneto-Inertial Fusion Technologies, Inc. (MIFTI). The diagnostics were successful at both locations and the LLNL/UCB team supported the data analysis by creating and running analysis scripts and Monte-Carlo calculations. At Zap Energy the diagnostics demonstrated that the fusion from the FuZE device is thermonuclear in nature, a result that resulted in an invited talk at the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics and an invited paper. Additionally, temporal and spatial data was taken using the SPMTs to understand the duration and length of fusion production. At UCSD the neutron yield from the diagnostics was used to show improvements to fusion yields on their gas puff Z-pinch when using a gas shell surrounding the fuel. The success in this diagnostic has led to continued work at both Zap Energy and MIFTI, as well as follow on funding and interest at other fusion energy companies.

Authors

One of the original drivers behind the development of pulsed power was the need for short-pulse (flash) x-ray sources for hydrodynamic tests. These systems continue to be an important diagnostic for the evaluation of hydrodynamic phenomena. In the United States, three primary facilities provide this function: Flash X-Ray (FXR) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL); the Dual Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test (DARHT) Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL); and Cygnus at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). FXR and DARHT provide highly penetrating radiographic capabilities but are limited in the types of hydrodynamic experiments that can be performed, while Cygnus can support a larger range of experiments, but does not provide the same penetrating capability. To fill this gap in hydrodynamic experimental capability, the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) has recently issued a set of high-level requirements describing a radiographic capability similar to that of DARHT, but located in a facility similar to Cygnus. In response to these requirements, a project called Scorpius has been developed as a joint partnership between LANL, LLNL, Sandia National Laboratory (SnL), and the NNSS. A key requirement is the delivery of multiple (2 or more) radiographic images along a single axis in a short time scale. This requirement effectively limits the possible system choices to a linear induction accelerator (LIA). However, there are several families of multi-pulse LIA architectures from which to choose. This paper describes the high-level system requirements for Scorpius as well as the evaluation of technologies and systems that might meet those requirements. In addition, the current preferred option and the initial conceptual designs are discussed.

The US Department of Energy (DOE), prepared a draft Supplement Analysis (SA) for Continued Operation of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore (SNL-L), in accordance with DOE`s requirements for implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (10 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] Part 1021.314). It considers whether the Final Environmental Impact Statement and Environmental Impact Report for Continued Operation of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore (1992 EIS/EIR) should be supplement3ed, whether a new environmental impact statement (EIS) should be prepared, or no further NEPA documentation is required. The SA examines the current project and program plans and proposals for LLNL and SNL-L, operations to identify new or modified projects or operations or new information for the period from 1998 to 2002 that was not considered in the 1992 EIS/EIR. When such changes, modifications, and information are identified, they are examined to determine whether they could be considered substantial or significant in reference to the 1992 proposed action and the 1993 Record of Decision (ROD). DOE released the draft SA to the public to obtain stakeholder comments and to consider those comments in the preparation of the final SA. DOE distributed copies of the draft SA to those who were known to have an interest in LLNL or SNL-L activities in addition to those who requested a copy. In response to comments received, DOE prepared this Comment Response Document.

Golder Construction Services, Inc. (GCS), under contract to the Regents of the University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), provided the construction quality assurance (CQA) observation and testing during the construction of the Site 300, Pit 6 landfill closure cover. The cap construction was performed as a CERCLA non-time-critical removal action from June 2 to August 29, 1997. the project site is located 18 miles east of Livermore on Tesla Road and approximately 10 miles southwest of Tracy on Corral Hollow Road in San Joaquin County, California. This report certifies that the LLNL, Site 300, Pit 6, Landfill Closure was constructed in accordance with the construction specifications and design drawings. This report documents construction activities and CQA monitoring and testing for construction of the Pit 6 Landfill Closure. Golder Associates, Inc. of Oakland, California was the design engineering firm responsible for preparation of the drawings and specifications. CQA services were provided by GCS, of Roseville, California, under supervision of a California registered civil Engineer.