After battling technical challenges and cost overruns, the $3.5 billion National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California is 80% complete. Three recent independent reviews of the US Department of Energy (DOE) facility say it is well managed and on schedule to meet a 2010 deadline to attempt fusion ignition. But political maneuverings in the Senate threaten to shut down the project.
On 30 June, in a late-night showdown, Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM), chair of the Water and Energy Appropriations Subcommittee, succeeded in cutting $224 million from the $337 million fiscal-year 2006 budget request for NIF. The proposed cut would cancel construction work on the project, on which $2.8 billion has already been spent. Moreover, $50 million is included in the proposed budget to close out NIF.
Matt Letourneau, Domenici’s spokesperson, insists that “the senator wants to see what scientific experiments can be carried out at NIF…....
