Jocelyn Kaiser
Three U.S. activist groups last week won a court victory when a judge agreed that because a National Academy of Sciences panel formed to study the National Ignition Facility--a $1.1 billion laser-fusion project--had operated behind closed doors, the Department of Energy, which commissioned the report, could not use its findings. This decision suggest that the much-cherished confidentiality of academy panels may be a thing of the past.