A complimentary article on the CBT and Stockpile Stewardship:
http://thebulletin.org/new-push-comprehensive-nuclear-test-ban-treaty8830
But with this comment on NIF:
One would never have known that the cornerstone of stockpile stewardship, Lawrence Livermore’s National Ignition Facility, came in more than 300 percent over budget, five years behind schedule, and has still failed to achieve its promised goal of “ignition” (the point where more energy comes out of a fusion reaction than goes in).
http://thebulletin.org/new-push-comprehensive-nuclear-test-ban-treaty8830
But with this comment on NIF:
One would never have known that the cornerstone of stockpile stewardship, Lawrence Livermore’s National Ignition Facility, came in more than 300 percent over budget, five years behind schedule, and has still failed to achieve its promised goal of “ignition” (the point where more energy comes out of a fusion reaction than goes in).
Comments
"It's the same old day-in and day-out safety and security issues at Los Alamos", Dr. Victor "Vic" Reis, former Assistant Secretary for Defense Programs, DP-1, Department of Energy, 1997
Vic stikl tells a funny story, great.
Soon we'll have another Clinton in the White House. I doubt the NNSA will do well under Hillary. More downsizing will probably be ordered for the NNSA and their weapon labs. The DOE energy labs, however, should do very well under her administration.
The comments on NIF are out of place and out of line in the referenced article.
November 3, 2015 at 7:18 PM
No NIF stuff here because NIF has done nothing lately, so the NIFniks are very quiet. Hard to bash'em when they aren't strutting.
Crickets.
That's correct, and NIF was designed after the test ban treaty, and the Stockpile Stewardship (SS) mission for what was to be called NIF was the primary goal of the facility. But yes, we also wanted to get ignition with gain, which was extrapolated from the last of the underground tests.
November 9, 2015 at 11:09 PM
What treaty are you talking about? The US and Russia stopped testing but there was no treaty.
November 10, 2015 at 9:28 AM
Technically correct. Full-scale nuclear testing was outlawed in the US in 1992 by Bush 41. The 1996 CTBT has never entered into force because of non-ratification by a majority of the required 44 "nuclear capable states" (including the US).
November 10, 2015 at 12:55 PM
Actually it was congress that passed the law - Bush 41 signed it.
In 1991, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev announced a unilateral nuclear test moratorium. Later that year, legislation was introduced in the U.S. Congress for a reciprocal test moratorium. The legislation, which became law in 1992, mandated a 9-month moratorium on nuclear weapon test explosions. In July 1993, President Bill Clinton decided to extend the U.S. test moratorium.