Jill Hruby, undersecretary for nuclear security of the US Department of Energy (DOE) and administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), recently visited the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE), along with US Representative Joseph Morelle and representatives from the offices of US Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand. During her visit, Hruby met with Rochester researchers and students and toured the LLE’s OMEGA EP laser facilities to learn more about how the LLE plays a key role in providing the science and expertise to support the DOE and NNSA in ensuring a safe, reliable, and secure nuclear security enterprise.
The LLE was established at the University in 1970 and is the largest US DOE university-based research program in the nation. As a nationally funded facility, the LLE conducts implosion and other experiments to support a DOE program to explore fusion as a future source of energy, to develop new laser and materials technologies, and to conduct research and develop technology related to high-energy-density phenomena. The LLE is recognized nationally and internationally for its substantial contributions to the DOE’s inertial confinement fusion and high-energy-density physics programs. In addition, the LLE provides graduate and undergraduate educational programs to students at Rochester and other universities across the country, and it operates the National Laser Users’ Facility, a national program that allows qualified researchers throughout the United States to conduct research using its facilities.
