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Science 18 August 2000:
Vol. 289. no. 5482, p. 1128
DOI: 10.1126/science.289.5482.1128
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News Focus

PHYSICS:
Will NIF Live Up to Its Name?

Charles Seife

The National Ignition Facility (NIF)--if it works as advertised, which is by no means certain given all of NIF's problems (see main text)--will pump almost 2 million joules of laser energy into a BB-sized pellet of hydrogen. But the bigger question is whether the pellet will actually achieve ignition--that is, undergo a sustained nuclear reaction that gives off as much energy as was put in? Most scientists on the project are cautiously optimistic, but others have grave doubts.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)