Inertial confinement fusion target component fabrication and technology development support: Annual report, October 1, 1995--September 30, 1996

Abstract

On December 30, 1990, the U.S. Department of Energy entered into a contract with General Atomics (GA) to be the Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) Target Component Fabrication and Technology Development Support contractor. In September 1995 this contract ended and a second contract was issued for us to continue this ICF target support work. This report documents the technical activities of the period October 1, 1995 through September 30, 1996. During this period, GA and our partners WJ Schafer Associates (WJSA) and Soane Technologies, Inc. (STI) were assigned 14 formal tasks in support of the Inertial Confinement Fusion program and its five laboratories. A portion of the effort on these tasks included providing direct {open_quotes}Onsite Support{close_quotes} at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and Sandia National Laboratory Albuquerque (SNLA). We fabricated and delivered over 800 gold-plated hohlraum mandrels to LLNL, LANL and SNLA. We produced nearly 1,200 glass and plastic target capsules for LLNL, LANL, SNLA and University of Rochester/Laboratory for Laser Energetics (UR/LLE). We also delivered over 100 flat foil targets for Naval Research Lab (NRL) and SNLA in FY96. This report describes these target fabrication activities and the target fabrication and characterization development activities that made the deliveries possible. The ICF program is anticipating experiments at the OMEGA laser and the National Ignition Facility (NIF) which will require capsules containing cryogenic layered D{sub 2} or deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel. We are part of the National Cryogenic Target Program to create and demonstrate viable ways to generate and characterize cryogenic layers. Substantial progress has been made on ways to both create and characterize viable layers. During FY96, significant progress was made in the design of the OMEGA Cryogenic Target System that will field cryogenic targets on OMEGA.