Preconceptual design requirements for the X-1 Advanced Radiation Source

The X-1 Advanced Radiation Source represents the next step in providing the US Department of Energy´s Stockpile Stewardship Program with the high-energy, large volume, laboratory X-ray source for the Radiation Effects Science and Simulation, Inertial Confinement Fusion, and Weapon Physics Programs. Advances in fast pulsed power technology and in z-pinch hohlraums on Sandia National Laboratories´ Z Accelerator provide sufficient basis for pursuing the development of X-1. The X-1 plan follows a strategy based on scaling the 2 MJ X-ray output on Z via a 3-fold increase in z-pinch load current. The large volume (>5 cm ³), high temperature (>150 eV), temporally long (>10 ns) hohlraums are unique outside of underground nuclear weapon testing. Analytical scaling arguments and hydrodynamic simulations indicate that these hohlraums at temperatures of 230-300 eV will ignite thermonuclear fuel and drive the reaction to a yield of 200 to 1000 MJ in the laboratory. X-1 will provide the high-fidelity experimental capability to certify the survivability and performance of nonnuclear weapon components in hostile radiation environments. Nonignition sources will provide cold X-ray environments (<15 keV), and high yield fusion burn sources will provide high fidelity warm X-ray environments (15 keV-80 keV)