LLNL Hosts French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission Leaders

Top leaders of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) visited Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) recently, accentuating a rich shared history of collaboration on fundamental science that supports stockpile stewardship.

The leaders provided updates on the latest fusion energy experiments, diagnostics, and upgrades at the CEA’s Laser Mégajoule (LMJ), the world’s largest laser, and at LLNL’s National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world’s most energetic laser and the first to achieve fusion ignition in a lab.

Jeff Wisoff, principal associate director of the NIF and Photon Science Directorate, welcomed the CEA contingent in his opening remarks, noting the close ties between the CEA, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Lab.

“The CEA, the DOE, and the NNSA (National Nuclear Security Administration), have a rich history of working together on science and technology related to stockpile stewardship,” Wisoff said. “We really value this.”

Wisoff mentioned a similar visit by Lab officials to LMJ a year ago, not long after LLNL had achieved ignition for the first time with an experiment at NIF. That achievement was possible due to the “intellectual horsepower” that came from “the dedication not only of this laboratory and our sister laboratories, but of all of our partnerships, both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S.,” Wisoff said.

“We put a very high priority on partnerships and collaborations,” said LLNL Director Kim Budil in her remarks. “There are always more ideas, more experts, more capabilities outside the fence than inside the fence. And in international collaborations, in particular, in order for us to be good at the things we do, it’s very important that we engage with the best people in the world in the international sector.”

Budil noted the importance of NIF’s Enhanced Yield Capability plan to boost laser energy yield in the near future, a plan that she and the directors of the two other major DOE national labs, Los Alamos and Sandia, have set “as our highest priority in terms of new scientific capabilities.

“Because for the next decade, this facility will be an incredibly important centerpiece in our program,” she said.

LLNL leaders welcomed the CEA leadership in a July 22 meeting at the Lab. Commenting on the meeting, a CEA spokesperson noted that “LLNL and CEA operate the world's most emblematic laser facilities. For several decades, CEA and LLNL organizations have been collaborating on laser architecture, technologies, and applications for the benefit of our scientific communities.

“This collaboration strengthens the teams in their efforts to achieve long-term viability and cost-effectiveness of the industrial processes needed to sustain our highly specific facilities,” the spokesperson said.

Budil and Wisoff were joined in the meeting by NIF Director Gordon Brunton; Richard Town, associate program director for the Strategic Deterrence (SD) inertial confinement fusion (ICF) science Weapons Physics and Design Program; Michael Stadermann, NIF&PS Target Fabrication program manager; Dave Bradley, High Energy Density Science associate division leader and NIF&PS section leader; Dayne Fratanduono, deputy NIF director for capabilities; Mark Herrmann, program director, SD Weapons Physics and Design; Jean-Michel Di Nicola, Laser Science & Systems Engineering (LSSE) co-program director; Tayyab Suratwala, NIF&PS Optics and Materials Science and Technology program director; and NIF Operations Manager Bruno Van Wonterghem.

Also in the meeting was Sarah Nelson, director of the NNSA’s Defense Program Office of Experimental Sciences, who noted how NIF has become recognized as “a key technology to support the stockpile into the future.

“And now we are really fully realizing what NIF can bring to bear for the stockpile,” she said. “But it is just the beginning.”

Ignition, however, is “a gateway that we need to pass through on the way to do more for the stockpile,” Nelson said. “The kinds of experiments that we hope to be doing as we push the science, we push the facility on its way to bigger and better and greater things.”

LLNL and the CEA are collaborating on developing a cryogenic target system for LMJ, a laser facility near Bordeaux, France, that, like NIF, is conducting ICF research. Brunton said this strategic partnership program “is going exceptionally well on budget and on schedule. We expect to be able to deliver on time in fiscal year 2025.”

The partnership includes CEA staff coming to Livermore to help LLNL build these systems, which provides benefits “to both of us in retaining cryogenic expertise, which is key in our field,” Brunton said. “So, you can take that experience back to both facilities and maintain these systems going forward. It’s a real win-win.”

The meetings began July 19 with CEA presentations on the progress of the ramp-up of LMJ, which is now delivering up to 80 beams with 100 terawatts and 300 kilojoules of laser energy on the target, and the LMJ’s PETAL project, a short-pulse ultra-high-power petawatt laser.

More Information:

“LLNL Helping Create a Cryo Target Capability for French Laser Facility,” NIF & Photon Science News, July 11, 2022

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