The National Ignition Facility and Industry

The mission of the National Ignition Facility is to achieve ignition and gain in inertial confinement fusion targets in the laboratory. The facility will be used for defense applications such as weapons physics and weapons effects testing, and for civilian applications such as fusion energy development and fundamental studies of matter at high temperatures and densities. The National Ignition Facility construction project will require the best of national construction industries and its success will depend on the best products offered by hundreds of the nation`s high technology companies. Three-fourths of the construction costs will be invested in industry. This article reviews the design, cost and schedule, and required industrial involvement associated with the construction project.