Military-Related Energy Production Subsidy

National Ignition Facility $5 billion

Background The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a DOE military nuclear weapons project being constructed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in northern California. As part of the DOE's "Stockpile Stewardship" program, this project is intended primarily to address the security of the U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons. However, NIF is also being touted as research into an alternative energy source. According to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's webpage, "NIF's technical goal of achieving fusion ignition will help establish the scientific basis for generating electrical power," and "U.S. industry will benefit from new technologies devised for NIF's engineering and optics requirements." NIF is included in this report as an energy production subsidy solely because of the project's secondary purpose of fusion electrical power research, rather than its military aims.

NIF would use laser fusion technology to blast a fuel pellet of radioactive tritium and deuterium in hopes of igniting a thermonuclear explosion in a reactor vessel ignition. NIF's cost estimates have doubled since 1994 and are continuing to rise. Current expected construction estimates are $1.2 billion with another $3.8 billion in operating costs over 30 years. NlF will produce radioactive waste and threaten efforts to limit the spread of nuclear weapons.

Green Scissors Proposal The National Ignition Facility should be canceled and construction terminated. Relying on existing facilities rather than expensive new ones would save taxpayers more than $5 billion over the 30-year lifetime of the project.

Project Hurts Taxpayers NIF is the single most costly element of DOE's nuclear weapons program (called Stockpile Stewardship), although its value to stewardship of the U.S. nuclear arsenal is dubious at best.

Billions of taxpayer dollars are being thrown at this experimental program. Experts at the DOE's own laboratories rate NIF's chances of achieving ignition at less than 10 percent.

The future of laser fusion as an energy source is highly speculative. A commercially viable fusion demonstration plant will not be possible for at least three to four decades, if ever. Because NIF offers no commercial use, any taxpayer dollars spent will be wasted.

Project Hurts Environment NIF will create radioactive waste. Its fuel contains radioactive tritium, and even its "routine" operation creates contamination. Because of a lawsuit brought by 39 plaintiff organizations in 1998, the government declassified formerly secret documents outlining plans to use uranium, plutonium and lithium hydride in NIF experiments. The use of these elements would increase environmental risks.