Lawrence Livermore Approaches Nuclear Fusion-Like Temperatures Using Lasers – IOTW Report

Lawrence Livermore Approaches Nuclear Fusion-Like Temperatures Using Lasers

Power Mag

An experiment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL’s) National Ignition Facility (NIF) appears to have approached fusion ignition as it recreated the extreme temperatures and pressures at the heart of the sun for a tiny fraction of a second. The momentous step has fueled new optimism for fusion energy.

The experiment on Aug. 8 “was enabled by focusing laser light from NIF—the size of three football fields—onto a target the size of a BB that produces a hot-spot the diameter of a human hair, generating more than 10 quadrillion watts of fusion power for 100 trillionths of a second,” LLNL reported on Aug. 18. It achieved a yield of more than 1.3 megajoules (MJ)—exceeding the 1-MJ threshold that researchers suggest is required for the onset of nuclear fusion ignition. More

28 Comments on Lawrence Livermore Approaches Nuclear Fusion-Like Temperatures Using Lasers

  1. All the money pissed away on fusion while we ignore thorium powered molten salt reactors that were proven 50 years ago…
    Thorium is everywhere.
    It is inherently safe. It can’t be made into a bomb.
    A softball size chunk has sufficient energy to support one person for their entire lifetime.
    We already mined over 100 years worth during the Manhattan project and it is sitting in storage somewhere in the desert.
    Of course, we taught the chinese everything we know about it and they are currently working on perfecting it.

    14
  2. +…The experiment on Aug. 8 “was enabled by focusing laser light from NIF—the size of three football fields—onto a target the size of a BB that produces a hot-spot the diameter of a human hair, generating more than 10 quadrillion watts of fusion power for 100 trillionths of a second,” LLNL reported on Aug. 18. It achieved a yield of more than 1.3 megajoules (MJ)…”

    These numbers are both too big and too small for my tiny brain to fully comprehend. I take it that the bottom line is that nuclear level energy can be achieved through non-radio active means. Thus, conceivably being a safer energy source. Yes? No?

    2
  3. We’ve done a ton of work on this project. Fascinating technology. But they’ve been 5 years away for 50 years. When you visit this place you can’t bring in any electronic devices for obvious reasons. They also weigh you in case things go sideways it would help identify your corpse. I could go on for hours telling stories about this place but by far the most interesting one is them having the CIA smuggle a Soviet Scientist out who was the worlds for most authority on accelerating the growth of salt crystals

    5
  4. “… for a tiny fraction of a second.”

    No. It would be correct to write,

    “… for barely more than an instant.”

    They’ve been wasting money on this
    shit for longer than there’s been
    a “T” in LGBT.

    8
  5. We suck at making electricity. All our large scale tech involves making heat and converting that to steam, converting that to mechanical rotation, and converting that rotation to electricity.

    3
  6. I like geothermal. Earth has enough heat to boil enough water to turn enough turbines to generate enough electricity for all of human energy consumption at the present rate of consumption for over ten BILLION years.

    We live on a basalt raft atop and ocean of molten iron.

    3
  7. @Marooned
    Iceland gets all its power from geothermal.
    They even pipe the steam under the streets of Reykjavík so they don’t have to plow. I was there in March 2000 and I could feel the streets were warm.

    2
  8. I think they started NIFT in the late 60’s. More cement than you’ve ever seen. They’re shooting this little beam at an Isotope housed in a micro coors can with a window in it. When they first came on line they were picking up a vibration making it impossible to hit the isotope. They finally tracked it down to a major freeway causing the distortion. Hieay 580, which is probably 5 miles away from the Lab. So they ended up excavating all the supporting pilings out and floating them in oil. I’m not sure what the consider oil but I don’t imagine it’s sae 30.

    2
  9. “It is inherently safe. It can’t be made into a bomb.”

    Thorium 229 has a half-life of 7,300 years and a neutron absorption >1000 barns.
    (Chart of the Nuclides, General Electric, 1984)
    Just because a thing hasn’t been done doesn’t mean that it can’t be done.

    izlamo delenda est …

    1
  10. A million mega-watts (million-million watts = 1.0 E+9) to produce 10 quadrillion watts (10.0 E+15) is a fuckin bargain. I should do so well with my savings account.

    izlamo delenda est …

    1

Comments are closed.