Rick Sawicki Interview for Dartmouth Engineer Magazine Page: 3 of 10
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Rick Sawicki Interview for Dartmouth Engineer Magazine
What is your role as chief engineer on this project?
There are two major roles for the Chief Engineer position: 1) to assure that the
engineering that is being performed for the project is safely completed in full compliance
with all federal, state and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory policies, standards
and procedures and 2) as needed, address special engineering issues as they arise assuring
that their resolution is completed in the safest, most effective manner consistent with the
project's budget and schedule constraints. Currently the project is nearing completion.
Many activities are rapidly coming to a conclusion and many new, complex systems are
being activated. I am presently playing a major role in coordinating these activities so
that the work can be executed safely and efficiently and the project will complete on
schedule.
What is the timetable to have this facility up and running for experimentation?
The National Ignition Facility project commenced in 1995 with a major engineering
effort to develop its conceptual design. Since that time we have completed all major
design reviews, constructed a 705,000-gross-square-foot facility that houses all of the
experimental equipment and commissioned most of the special laser and target area
equipment. Presently NIF is about 96% complete and on track to meet our project
completion milestones next spring and continue preparing for experiments in 2009 and
2010. In 2010 the full-scale campaign leading up to fusion ignition will be in full swing.
Where is the facility?
The facility is located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore,
California. Livermore is a city with a population of about 50,000 and is located about 50
miles east of San Francisco.
How large is your team of designers, engineers, etc.?
At present there are approximately 110 engineers, 60 designers and 220 technicians
working on the NIF project. In the late 1990's and early 2000's these numbers were much
larger. At that time we were designing, engineering, constructing and commissioning
many elements of this large facility all at the same time. During those years the number
of engineers needed was more than 200 and the number of designers was about 250.
What are the means of achieving nuclear fusion?
At LLNL we have been developing the technologies to achieve nuclear fusion through
the process called inertial confinement fusion (ICF). This process utilizes very high-
power laser beams to bathe a small spherical target, the size of a BB, containing the
hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium (DT) with an intense energy pulse. If this
energy can be deposited uniformly enough and with enough power density then the
This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under
Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344
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Sawicki, R. Rick Sawicki Interview for Dartmouth Engineer Magazine, article, May 21, 2008; Livermore, California. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc902843/m1/3/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.