Number 246 (Story #2), October 25, 1995 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein IN INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION (ICF) a "driver" consisting of multiple laser or particle beams converge on a target. The resulting compression heats up a deuterium-tritium mixture until fusion reactions begin. Scientists studying this fusion fireball have both practical applications in mind---they aim to convert fusion energy into commercial electrical energy---and military applications---since fusion reactions are at the heart of modern nuclear weapons. In what is likely to become the ICF bible for years to come, Livermore physicist John Lindl (510- 422-5430) lays out the nuts and bolts of ICF research in the November issue of the journal Physics of Plasmas. Lindl's 90-page report includes extensive discussion of research that until the past year or so was classified as secret information. Much of the declassified material has to do with target design. In the indirect-drive approach to ICF, the driver beams do not strike the fuel capsule but rather an outer casing consisting of high-atomic-weight material, which heats up and emits x rays. It is the x rays which cause the implosion of the fuel capsule. At the proposed National Ignition Facility (which, if approved, would be constructed by about 2002) scientists hope to extract 10 times as much energy from the fuel as goes in. (Journalists can obtain copies of the article from AIP Public Information at physnews@aip.org)