Press Kit
These fact sheets discuss various National Ignition Facility-related topics in a printer-friendly PDF format:
What is NIF?
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) will use the world's largest laser to compress and heat BB-sized capsules of fusion fuel to thermonuclear ignition. NIF experiments will produce temperatures and densities similar to those in stars and nuclear weapons. Download the PDFNIF at a Glance
Experiments conducted on NIF will make significant contributions to national and global security, could lead to practical fusion energy, and will help the nation maintain its leadership in basic science and technology.Download the PDF
How NIF Works
From beginning to end, the total energy of NIF's laser beams grows from one-billionth of a joule to four million joules, a factor of more than a quadrillion – and it all happens in about five millionths of a second.
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The Seven Wonders of NIF
To put NIF on the path to ignition experiments in 2010, scientists, engineers and technicians had to overcome a daunting array of challenges.Download the PDFNational Ignition Campaign
The National Ignition Campaign is the "bridge" that will take NIF to routine operations as a highly flexible, high energy density science facility by 2013.Download the PDF
Making a Star
NIF was designed to produce extraordinarily high temperatures and pressures – tens of millions of degrees and pressures many billion times greater than Earth's atmosphere. These conditions now exist only in the cores of stars and planets and in nuclear weapons.Download the PDF
Stockpile Stewardship
NIF is the only facility that can perform controlled, experimental studies of thermonuclear burn, the phenomenon that gives rise to the immense energy of modern nuclear weapons. Download the PDFA New Era of Science
Research at NIF promises to revolutionize our understanding of astrophysics and space physics, hydrodynamics, nuclear astrophysics, material properties, plasma physics, nonlinear optical physics, radiation sources and radiative properties and other areas of science. Download the PDFThe Promise of Limitless Energy
A fusion power plant would produce no greenhouse gas emissions, can operate continuously to meet demand, and would produce shorter-lived and easier-to-store radioactive byproducts than current fission power plants. Download the PDFSafe and Sustainable Fusion Power
Using a laser system similar to the one operating at NIF, LIFE power plants could generate gigawatts of baseload power with no carbon dioxide emissions, no enrichment, no reprocessing, and no high-level radioactive waste.Download the PDF
Photon Science & Applications
The Photon Science and Applications program leads in the development of large-scale photon systems and in the execution of photon-based projects for energy, defense, homeland and stockpile security, basic science and industrial competitiveness. Download the PDFHow Lasers Work
If the electrons in special glasses, crystals or gases are energized, they will emit light photons in response to a weak laser pulse. The photons will all be at the same wavelength and will also be "coherent," meaning the light wave’s crests and troughs are all in lockstep. Download the PDFNIF FAQs
Why is NIF being built? What is stockpile stewardship? How soon will we have inertial fusion power plants? These questions and more are answered in the "Frequently Asked Questions" Fact Sheet.Download the PDF
NIF Fun Facts:
NIF’s total optical surface area is three-quarters of an acre – 40 times the surface area of the giant Keck telescope in Hawaii. This and other "Fun Facts" about NIF can be found in this Fact Sheet. Download the PDFClean and Abundant Energy with LIFE
LIFE power plants are intrinsically safe, have a low environmental impact, and could provide abundant power to meet the world's growing energy needs.Download the PDF