Penetrating radiation impact on NIF final optic components

The principal technical goal of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) is to achieve thermonuclear ignition in a laboratory environment via inertial confinement fusion. This will enable NIF to service the DOE stockpile stewardship management program, inertial fusion energy goals, and advance scientific frontiers. All of these applications will make use of the extreme conditions that the facility will create in the target chamber. In the case of a projected 20 MJ yield scenario, NIF will produce approximately 1019 neutrons with a characteristic DT fusion 14 MeV energy per neutron. There will also be a substantial amount of high energy x-rays as well as solid, liquid and gaseous target debris produced with directly or indirectly by the inertial confinement fusion process. A critical design issue is the protection of the final optical components as well as sophisticated target diagnostics in such a harsh environment.