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The Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) commissioned a conceptual design report (CDR) for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in January 1993 as part of a key decision zero (KD0), justification of mission need. Motivated by the progress to date by the inertial confinement fusion (ICF) program in meeting the Nova technical contract goals established by the National Academy of Sciences in 1989, the Secretary requested a design using a solid-state laser driver operating at the third harmonic (0.35 micrometer) of neodymium (Nd) glass. The participating ICF laboratories signed a memorandum of agreement in August 1993, and established a project organization, including a technical team from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), and the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester. Since then, we completed the NIF conceptual design, based on standard construction at a generic DOE defense program's site, and issued a 7,000-page, 27-volume CDR in May 1994. Over the course of the conceptual design study, several other key documents were generated, including a facilities requirements document, a conceptual design scope and plan, a target physics design document, a laser design cost basis document, a functional requirements document, an experimental plan for indirect drive ignition, and a preliminary hazards analysis (PHA) document. DOE used the PHA to categorize the NIF as a low-hazard, non-nuclear facility. On October 21, 1994 the Secretary of Energy issued a key decision one (KD1) for the NIF, which approved the project and authorized DOE to request Office of Management and Budget-approval for congressional line-item FY 1996 NIF funding for preliminary engineering design and for National Environmental Policy Act activities. In addition, the Secretary declared Livermore as the preferred site for constructing the NIF. In February 1995, the NIF Project was formally submitted to Congress as part of the President's FY 1996 budget. If funded as planned, the Project will cost approximately $1.1 billion and will be completed at the end of FY 2002.
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