NIF scientists set the controls for nuclear fusion
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted March 31st 2009 11:14PM
posted March 31st 2009 11:14PM
It looks like nuclear fusion is no longer just for precocious teenagers. Among the flurry of experiments going down worldwide, significant work will start rolling at the US National Ignition Facility sometime this June. Under construction for twelve years, the lab will focus 192 giant laser beams on two forms of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium. Combining these isotopes at high temperatures generates a colossal amount of energy, recreating conditions "at the heart of the sun." The goal is to find a way to achieve controlled, sustained nuclear fusion and energy gain in a lab. According to the director of the facility, Dr. Ed Moses, "When all NIF lasers are fired at full energy, they will deliver 1.8 megajoules of ultraviolet energy to the target." Lasting just a few nanoseconds, the system is capable of generation 500 trillion watts of power -- more than the peak electrical generating power of the entire United States. Significant results are expected sometime between 2010 and 2012.
people like you ruin the fun of the whole thing.
Who cares if they wasted billions on something that produces less energy than it uses? Lets hope they generate a quantum mechanical black hole.
Hopefully it will, that's why they're testing it. It theoretically has the capability of doing so.
The answers you seek are contained within the article. Share and Enjoy tm
This is what happens when tech guys post science articles.
The lasers are there to jump-start the fusion reaction. In an actual fusion reactor, the fusion would be entirely self-sustaining.
O o
/¯/________________________\
| IMMA FIREN MAH LAZAR!!! BLAAAARH!
\_\¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯/
recreating conditions "at the heart of the sun."
well that's definitely worth cutting the electric bills for.
As this would provide a solution to supposed man-made global warming / carbon production, yet without government micro-managing of your lives, look for this program to be cut off from funding, or shut down or sabotaged in some way.
Doubt it. We actually have a President that digs science instead of cocks his head and had that deer lost in the headlights look when you talk to him of science.
I'm glad to see that you said "supposed". Naysayers unite!
"supposed man-made global warming "
I love how some jack-nuts equates the conclusion from a committee of several hundred scientist from around the world as some none sense political agenda or better yet, fear mongering.
If you were kidding, I apologize, if not I assume you subsidize your scientific understanding with redneck politicians understanding of science.
Best of luck to you.
-KevinC
KevinC, you blow hard. There are plenty of dissenting opinions when it comes to man-made climate change. As it stands, I wouldn't bet on either side being right. There's also too much political interference from countries/industries that stand to gain if emissions/carbon controls are introduced. The real risk in my mind, is having world GDP, and in turn, scientific R&D curtailed, that should, in the future, give us the ability to regulate, and at worst mitigate the world's climate, and the negative effects its changing may bring. Every day there seems to be news that throws what some would call a "slam dunk case" for man-made climate change into doubt. For instance, today: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/01apr_deepsolarminimum.htm (from NASA of all organizations.)
2012? eH?! It's a TARP! LHC is just a cover! This is the end of the world?!!1!ONE!
=] Hope it really works.
why do potentially catastrophic projects have to be done in 2012?
can't they finish it in 2011 or 2013?
December 21, 2012?
"500 trillion watts of power" That's more than enough for my flux capacitor!
pew pew pew
If it works, it will be one of the greatest, if not the greatest advance in human history..... If not, there may be a crater where that facility used to be... what we dont know, is how big that crater will be lol
It's funny but I had an uncle who used to be in the Air Force for most of his life as a scientist. He told me neat stories about touring facilities around Europe, and of course the obligatory nasty stories that go along with overseas travel. We used to think he liked to bullshit us with stories of like CIA tech and the supercharged tech at Los Alamos, but now that I see this I specifically remember him telling me about something like this. He said he visited some lab out there (not sure if it was Los Alamos) and said while they were giving a tour they showed them a reactor like this. Apparently he was told they were using some type of special set of lasers that used mirrors to bounce the beam 12 or so times around before hitting hydrogen. I think it invloved some serious magnets too, but I'm not sure. He told me this like 5 or 6 years ago before he died (no, no mysterious CIA "accident" the man died from drinking too damn much). I think he said the beams had to be kicked around that many times to "condition the beam" or something like that. Apparently according to those guys getting a fusion reaction going and keeping it isn't a big deal, you finesse the atoms to come together instead of trying to brute force it. The problem is even they hadn't figured out how to actually use that energy.
Then again he, and by association me as well, could really have been full of shit. This is the same man who told me he slept with 4 women at once in Europe without them being prostitutes, that we are in regular contact with aliens, and that we spy on the UK while they spy on us and trade information, so take it with a block of salt.
i am at an absolute loss for words.
what?!
Yeah, I'm w/ Jon on that one - your uncle was awesome. Lasers, European orgies, aliens and spy salt - that's one sweet bloodline.
KA - BOOM!!!!
Hmm is it just me or shouldn't they already have away " to achieve controlled, sustained nuclear fusion and energy gain in a lab" FIRST instead of TRYING " to achieve controlled, sustained nuclear fusion and energy gain in a lab"?
safer? no?
because we all know scientists can predict the future. they need to try it so they know what will happen and thus will perfect ways of controlling it, hence experimentation.
And THIS is why we want to move to electric cars. Placing our pollution at a single point that is the only thing that needs to be upgraded over time vs. upgrading every car, truck, van, semi every time a new tech comes along is supremely preferable. Of course we aren't going to see this tech really show up for general use for another 20-30 years anyways sooooo.
"The Power of The Sun, In the Palm of My Hands"
Exactly. They should be ashamed for not 'shopping Doc Ock into that diagram.
There is a lot of stories on engadget that involve laser beams lately.
So, how is the energy actually harnessed? Does it still all boil down (pun intended) to steam spinning a turbine? Or is there some other way that the energy is extracted from the process? Not that fusion isn't cool or anything... I just think that developing bigger and better ways of generating heat, just to have it boil water, is kind of boring.
But yes, cleaner and more efficient ways of boiling that water is still a good thing.
It may look pretty simple, but it has been on the to-do list of physicists for a really long time. If only we still had Einstein amongst us today. This process does need a helluva lot of energy to get them to join together. If they do achieve it in a controlled manner, we could have clean and kind-of unlimited energy.
But, 1.8 MJ for 500 trillion W. Can any physicist answer if the input invested justifies the output ?
1 watt = 1 joule/sec by definition.
1.8 million watts to make 100 trillion watts?
I like those numbers...
Oooo... 500 trillion...
The NIF laser has been firing quite well for years now. They just keep adding beams to the whole thing. Odds are it will never successfully put out more energy than goes in. That being said, it can still be enormously useful for scientific research and understanding of exactly how stars work...
I believe that might be just north of one point twenty-one jiggawatts.
What the hell is a jiggawatt?!?
And if this backfires how much of the country will it wipe it? (just saying)
none, fusion reactors are incapable of exploding. nowhere near enough fuel in them.
https://lasers.llnl.gov/programs/nif/
doubt .gov would participate in april fools but idk
What day is it?
Global Warming Solved?
The real question is... when will it be in my cell phone? :P
I've had the good fortune to tour this facility recently. It's INCREDIBLY impressive, and the folks we met on the tour were super smart and interesting. I can't wait to see what sorts of results they're able to produce.
1.21 gigawats?! 1.21 gigawatts?! Great Scott!
And watch Obama shut it down because the tree huggers don't like it.
because we all know fusion energy just pours out smog
and kills kittens!
@andres & @you
and radioactive containers.....and neutron radiation....
Isn't there a theory about ripping or warping the fabric of space time by directing a large amount of energy to a point in space? Isn't that a theory related to the construction of worm holes for space travel beyond our solar system?
I wonder if these mad fools will go back / forward in time, or up in smoke.
Let's hope it works... we need a really really hot energy reaction on the planet to aid in the global warming scheme we initiated 100+ years ago... that's just taking too damn log to fully implement.
;)
We could use the global warming considering we are in a big global cooling cycle and likely headed towards a mini-iceage as seen in the 1600s!
99% this is an April fools joke
America, #$%* YEAH!