I have a friend who used to work there who wrote a paper proving that fusion isn't theoretically viable. Needless to say he was blackballed...
E Sent from my iPhone On Mar 23, 2012, at 8:30, "Chris Hahn" <[email protected]> wrote: > Let’s hope the folks at Livermore (or anyone else) can create a sustainable > fusion reaction. It is too bad that we backed so far away from fusion > research for so long. I have been a dreamy-eyed idealist hoping for this > holy-grail energy solution to emerge for a long time. > > Chris > > > > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] > Sent: Friday, March 23, 2012 9:01 AM > To: [email protected] > Cc: [email protected] > Subject: [RC] Science News : Super Laser successful, may result in practical > fusion power > > > > > Gizmodo > > America Fires the Most Powerful Laser In History > > > By Jesus Diaz > Mar 21, 2012 > > The United States' National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore > National Lab in California has fired the most powerful laser in history, a > record-breaking 2-megajoule shot. The laser was originally designed to reach > 1.875-megajoules, but beat everyone's expectations—and set a new world record > in the process. > 192 laser beams combined to form the single shot, initially reaching 1.875 > megajoules. By the time it passed through its final focusing lens, the laser > maxed out at 2.03 megajoules, making it the world's first 2-megajoule > ultraviolet laser. Better yet, the blast caused less damage to the laser > optics than predicted, which allowed the facility to fire another shot just > 36 hours after the 2.03-megajoule one. > > How it works > > It all starts with a single laser, which is split into 48 separate beams. The > beams are then redirected, using mirrors, into amplifiers that have been > previously pumped by a total of 7,680 Xenon flash lamps. After four bounces, > the beams are further split into 192 rays through all the facility—which is > the size of three football fields. As they travel through those endless > tubes, the beams are amplified again at an exponential rate. > > The result: from a tiny 1/billionth of a joule laser, the scientists at the > National Ignition Facility obtain rays "a foot on their side" with a combined > "2.03 million joules of ultraviolet energy," 1,000 times the energy of all > the power plants in the United States combined, even while it's only for a > fraction of a second. > > This time, the facility wasn't firing into any target. This will come later > in the year, as the facility—which is supported by the US Nuclear Weapons > Complex—races to achieve ignition in its first nuclear fusion experiment. > > > What does that entail? The powerful lasers will compress this frozen hydrogen > fuel cell, which will itself be enclosed in a gold-plated cylinder called the > hohlraum. The hohlraum is located inside a 32.8-foot-diameter ignition > chamber, and it will transform the lasers into extremely intense X-rays, > compressing the hydrogen at one hundred billion atmospheres in just > 1/1,000,000 of a second. > This will trigger a controlled nuclear fusion reaction that will create a > small star, hopefully generating more power than the energy used to fire the > laser and contain the intense heat inside the chamber. If this is successful, > we may be witnessing the beginning of a new clean power source that may end > our dependency on fission nuclear power, oil and coal. > > According to Ed Moses—director of the National Ignition Faciliy—"it's a > remarkable demonstration of the laser from the standpoint of its energy, its > precision, its power, and its availability." ..... > > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community > <[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community > <[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
