It's weapons research. > “Our thermonuclear weapons have fusion ignition that takes place in our weapons, so studying fusion ignition is something we do to sup

It's weapons research. > “Our thermonuclear weapons have fusion ignition that takes place in our weapons, so studying fusion ignition is something we do to support the stockpile stewardship program,” Mark Herrmann, Lawrence Livermore’s program director for weapon physics and design, said during a technical panel on Dec. 13. “In addition, fusion ignition creates these very extreme environments that we have no other way to access on Earth. In this experiment, for the first time ever, we were able to put some samples of materials that are important for future stockpile modernization efforts that are going on at Lawrence Livermore today in very close to this intense neutron burst and then see how did they respond to that intense neutron burst.”