The fusion breeder is a fusion reactor designed with special blankets to maximize the transmutation by 14 MeV neutrons of uranium-238 to plutonium or thorium to uranium-233 for use as a fuel for fission reactors. Breeding fissile fuels has not been a goal of the US fusion energy program. This paper suggests it is time for a policy change to make the fusion breeder a goal of the US fusion program and the US nuclear energy program. The purpose of this paper is to suggest this policy change be made and tell why it should be made, and to outline specific research and development goals so that the fusion breeder will be developed in time to meet fissile fuel needs.

Searching for neutrinoless double beta decay is the only known practical method for trying to determine whether neutrinos are their own antiparticles. The theoretical motivation for supposing that they may indeed be their own antiparticles is described. The reason that it is so difficult to ascertain experimentally whether they are or are not is explained, as is the special sensitivity of neutrinoless double beta decay. The potential implications of the observation of this reaction for neutrino mass and for the physics of neutrinos is discussed.

A one-dimensional Lagrangian calculation of the implosion of a hydrogen gas puff is presented. At maximum compression, 60% of the mass is located in a density spike .5 mm off the axis with a half width of 40 ..mu..m. The temperature on axis reaches 200 eV.

Funneling two H/sup -/ beams into a single beam of twice the current has been examined as a means of doubling beam current without significantly increasing transverse emittance. Using the PARMILA particle-following code, two 100-mA RFQ output beams at 2 MeV were injected into idealized transport lines for merging two beams into one. Two approaches were studied: (1) the minimum-element method, in which a minimum number of discrete elements such as quadrupole triplets, buncher cavities, and bending magnets were used to transport and deflect the beam; and (2) the quasi-adiabatic method, in which a periodic lattice similar to the RFQ provided focusing and minimized abrupt changes in the beam environment. The minimum-element method resulted in an emittance growth ratio epsilon/sub 0//epsilon/sub i/ = 2.5, whereas the quasi-adiabatic emittance growth ratio was about 1.1 (albeit with an idealized line configuration). 5 refs., 4 figs., 3 tabs.

Resonance ionization mass spectrometry (RIMS) is a natural outgrowth of RIS. The result of an RIS process is an ion pair. The electron can be used to detect the process, and single atom detection has been demonstrated by this method. The cation resulting from the RIS process actually carries more easily accessible and useful information (i.e. the mass of the ion). RIMS is useful in mass analysis. The development of RIMS has proceeded along several different directions, using CW or pulsed lasers, narrow or wide band laser energies, different kinds of sample generation, and different kinds of mass separations. RIMS in various forms can be used to obtain either element or isotope selectivity. Even though the RIMS technique has developed along several lines, several things are common to all approaches. Ultimately RIMS requires gaseous, free, atoms. RIMS makes use of the photoionization of these atoms by absorption of photons through allowed transitions involving real energy levels. The ion once formed is detected by standard mass spectrometric techniques.

An S-1 optical streak camera with 10-ps (optical) temporal resolution simultaneously records reflected 1.06-..mu..m laser light and suprathermal (> 30 keV) x rays from laser fusion targets. To make these measurements, the camera x-ray sensitivity is increased 30-fold without significant loss of temporal resolution by increasing the effective slit width from the normal 50 ..mu..m to 1500 ..mu..m. The measurement system is described and sample data are presented.