Dick Post and John Nuckolls to be honored as fusion pioneers

Two LLNL fusion pioneers, Dick Post and John Nuckolls, will be honored in early December when an international fusion organization holds its annual meeting at the Laboratory.

Fusion Power Associates, a research and educational foundation dedicated to the development of fusion energy and headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., will hold its first meeting ever on site at LLNL on Dec. 3-4. Its symposium is centered on the theme "Fusion Energy: Countdown to Ignition and Gain."

As part of its event, Fusion Power Associates will honor Post, a magnetic fusion researcher, and Nuckolls, an inertial fusion scientist and first post-Cold War LLNL director from 1988 to 1994.

Post came to the Laboratory within two to three months of its founding in 1952 and has conducted magnetic fusion energy and other scientific research for 56 years, still coming into work several days a week now at age 89.

A 90th birthday celebration for Post will be held on the meeting's first day, Dec. 3. The next day, a special session — called "The Legacy of Richard F. Post" — will be presented, chaired by LLNL physicist Dmitri Ryutov, a long-time colleague and friend of Post.

Post was selected to be deputy associate director for Magnetic Fusion Energy at the Laboratory in 1974, and in 1987, was named senior scientist. He received the James Clerk Maxwell Prize in Plasma Physics from the American Physical Society (APS) in 1978 and Fusion Power Associates’ Distinguished Career Award in 1987.

Nuckolls came to the Laboratory in 1955. His 53-year career has been devoted to the development of advanced inertial fusion concepts and applications. Today, Nuckolls is focused on the NIF Ignition Campaign, and beyond ignition and gain, to the development of laser-fusion power.

Before becoming the associate director for Physics in 1983, Nuckolls founded and led the "X" Inertial Fusion Design Division (1980-83), and served as associate leader of A Division, as well as associate program leader for Laser Fusion (1975-83).

He received the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's E.O. Lawrence Award in 1969, the APS James Clerk Maxwell Prize in Plasma Physics in 1981 and the American Nuclear Society's Edward Teller Medal in 1991. Fusion Power Associates honored Nuckolls with its Leadership Award in 1982 and its Distinguished Career Award in 1996.

On the December meeting's first day, Ed Moses, the principal associate director for National Ignition Facility and Photon Science, will make presentations on the status of NIF and future directions for inertial fusion. Meeting participants also will tour the NIF laser.

In past years, Fusion Power Associates has held meetings in association with LLNL (1981, 1984, 1987, 1992 and 1996), usually meeting in Pleasanton and taking tours of LLNL. This will be the organization's first onsite annual meeting at LLNL, according to Stephen Dean of FPA.

About 60-70 international fusion researchers are expected to attend the Fusion Power Associates sessions.

To obtain more information on the meeting or to request an agenda, go to the Fusion Power Associates Website and click on annual meeting, agenda and registration.