Nuclear Program Director Christopher Paine's comments to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) regarding Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) systems

Nuclear Program Director Christopher Paine recently participated in the public comment process of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) committee system – a process NRDC litigation helped create in 1997 – regarding:

(1) The composition and charge of a new NAS committee to review scientific and technical prospects for development of Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) systems [document submitted December 8, 2010] and

(2) The record of previous NAS attempts to evaluate the National Nuclear Security Administration’s ongoing and very costly attempt to demonstrate “lab-scale” fusion ignition in a facility the size of three football fields – the $5 billion plus National Ignition Facility (NIF) [in person testimony, Washington, D.C., December 16].

• nuc_11010602a.pdf Comments of Christopher Paine, Nuclear Program Director, Natural Resources Defense Council, regarding National Academy of Sciences Review Committee PIN: DEPS-BPA-10-03, "Prospects for Inertial Confinement Fusion Energy Systems," and its provisional membership
• nuc_11010602b.pdf Public Comments of Christopher E. Paine Nuclear Program Director, Natural Resources Defense Council To the First Meeting of the Provisional NAS Committee on "Prospects for Inertial Confinement Fusion Energy Systems"