ICStatus and progress of the National Ignition Facility as ICF and HED user facility

Abstract

Since its completion in 2009, the National Ignition Facility has been operated in support of NNSA's Stockpile Stewardship mission, providing unique experimental data in the high energy density regime. We will describe the progress made by the National Ignition facility in the user office and management, facility capabilities, target diagnostics and diagnostics development. We will also discuss the results of a major effort to increase the shot rate on NIF. An extensive set of projects, developed in conjunction with the HED community and drawing on best practices at other facilities, improved shot rate by over 80% and recently enabled us to deliver 356 target experiments in FY15 in support of the users. Through an updated experimental set-up and review process, computer controlled set-up of the laser and diagnostics and disciplined operations, NIF also continued to deliver experimental reliability, precision and repeatability. New and complex platforms are introduced with a high success rate. Finally we discuss how new capabilities and further efficiency improvements will enable the successful execution of ICF and HED experimental programs required to support the quest for Ignition and the broader Science Based Stockpile Stewardship mission