Laser fusion experiment yields record energy at Lawrence Livermore's National Ignition Facility

I wonder WHY people are crazy about fusion?

We already have a massive source of energy which is called 'sun', the star of this system. It throws enough energy at earth that a 10,000 sq km area of US can power the entire country through solar energy.

The easy solution is to put up many solar power plants in deserts.

Energy is not as big a problem as people think.

reply to post by GargIndia


Solar is flawed for many, many reasons. Fusion? Fusion is the perfect energy source. No harmful by-products (in fact, the primary by-product of fusion is something we're currently short on), practically limitless fuel, and no potential for catastrophic failures.

More on-topic, the NIF is amazing for its scale and power, but laser inertial confinement isn't going to be the way to go for fusion power generation. The two technologies I'm keeping a close eye on are tokamaks (and their derivatives), and the Polywell system being quietly investigated by the US Navy. The latter is particularly interesting, because it's derived from the Farnsworth-Hirsch fusor design, which is simple enough that numerous amateur physicists have built them.

I bet it sees weaponization, long before it actually becomes a benefit to any of us. If we ever benefit from it at all. Yeah, I guess I am a bit cynical these days

reply to post by TKDRL


Good point, the military complex is the first to get any new technology while the general populations will received scraps or crumbs. It goes to show you where our government's priority lies.

PhoenixOD
So it took 192 ultra-powerful laser beams to produce just 8000 joules?

you beat me to it..8,000 joules is not that much at all....

10−9 J nJ nanojoule 109 J GJ gigajoule
10−12 J pJ picojoule 1012 J TJ terajoule
10−15 J fJ femtojoule 1015 J PJ petajoule
10−18 J aJ attojoule 1018 J EJ exajoule
10−21 J zJ zeptojoule 1021 J ZJ zettajoule
10−24 J yJ yoctojoule 1024 J YJ yottajoule
Common multiples are in bold face


Nanojoule[edit]

The nanojoule (nJ) is equal to one billionth of one joule. One nanojoule is about 1/160 of the kinetic energy of a flying mosquito.[9]

Microjoule[edit]

The microjoule (μJ) is equal to one millionth of one joule. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is expected to produce collisions on the order of 1 microjoule (7 TeV) per particle.

Millijoule[edit]

The millijoule (mJ) is equal to one thousandth of a joule.

Kilojoule[edit]

The kilojoule (kJ) is equal to one thousand (103) joules. Nutritional food labels in certain countries express energy in standard kilojoules (kJ).

One kilojoule per second (1000 watts) is approximately the amount of solar radiation received by one square metre of the Earth in full daylight.[10]

Megajoule[edit]

The megajoule (MJ) is equal to one million (106) joules, or approximately the kinetic energy of a one-ton vehicle moving at 160 km/h (100 mph).

Because 1 watt times one second equals one joule, 1 kilowatt-hour is 1000 watts times 3600 seconds, or 3.6 megajoules.


seems some type of typo of error in reporting

ShadeWolf...and the Polywell system being quietly investigated by the US Navy. The latter is particularly interesting, because it's derived from the Farnsworth-Hirsch fusor design, which is simple enough that numerous amateur physicists have built them.

Ding, ding! We have a winner!

Legend has it that Bussard got better than breakeven on the last run that destroyed the test unit, and then suddenly Navy defunded it and kicked everyone out.

And, of course, you can then see a project spawn off with the same military guys and the same POC, with a different project number, only this one's classified. I hear that they are 'making great strides' and that it may declass again (it was initially classified under Bussard, then declassed, then "discontinued", then recontinued without EMC2 as a classified project, now maybe declassified again. It's hard to keep up with.

ShadeWolf
reply to post by GargIndia

 

Solar is flawed for many, many reasons. Fusion? Fusion is the perfect energy source. No harmful by-products (in fact, the primary by-product of fusion is something we're currently short on), practically limitless fuel, and no potential for catastrophic failures.

More on-topic, the NIF is amazing for its scale and power, but laser inertial confinement isn't going to be the way to go for fusion power generation. The two technologies I'm keeping a close eye on are tokamaks (and their derivatives), and the Polywell system being quietly investigated by the US Navy. The latter is particularly interesting, because it's derived from the Farnsworth-Hirsch fusor design, which is simple enough that numerous amateur physicists have built them.

Why is solar 'flawed'?

USA has its priorities misplaced, this is the reason for economic woes.

The solar cell uses silicon (comes from sand) and glass (sand), and some electronic circuits made from harmless metals and other materials. A solar cell can be recycled.

The issue of power during night is easily solved by building large plants in different regions, and transferring electric power between regions. My country has an electric grid that spans 3000 km in both north/south and east/west direction, and many other countries have larger grids.

be nice to have a house ran by one!

reply to post by Bedlam


You do realize that this experiment like pretty much all of NIF experiments has nothing to do with fusion POWER, right? The NIF is devoted to testing and research on nuclear weapons. This experiment was to ignite fusion pellet without having to detonate a warhead in the atmosphere.
Nothing about this experiment has anything that is usable to generate electricity. Not only have they not successfully initiated a real fusion reaction, but there is no method to sustain it beyond a single pellet being consumed, let alone a method to convert any released energy into electricity. This is purely a weapons grade experiment.

Source

NIF was funded by Congress to provide nuclear weapons scientists with the ability to study some of the extreme conditions that can’t otherwise be created in the absence of nuclear testing. Absorbing billions of dollars of the defense budget, NIF became a target for critics of many stripes, from antinuclear protesters to rival scientists competing for funding to defense program advocates who feared the loss of projects offering more immediate benefit.
As a result, NIF’s inability to demonstrate ignition on schedule last year became a political football, with congressional debates over funding levels sometimes appearing to take a punitive tone.
One common criticism in various discussions was the seeming cockiness of some laser program leaders who appeared to take ignition for granted and who promoted NIF as a testbed for speculative, futuristic power plants rather than as an instrument for defense research.

Not that they don't have an interest in fusion power, but that is not the purpose of the facility, their funding or experiments. And this experiment is not an example of successful fusion yet, the output of the "reaction" was measured by the amount of particles emitted from the pellet, they would have gotten more energy out if they had burned .0005 lbs of coal with their laser.

Look, I'm not implying that fusion isn't possible, but if they ever have a working reactor where you get more energy out than in, and somehow manage to have a cleaner operation than ancient fission reactors, then we will already be so far beyond that tech, it won't even matter. And I stand by my statement that the fusion model for the sun is incorrect.

If you want to see where we are at with fusion reactor technology, look at ITER.



NIF in Nation Defense Authorization