NIF's Nuclear Fusion Experiments

Clipped from: AFP: US scientists step towards nuclear fusion with laser shot

US scientists step towards nuclear fusion with laser shot

  WASHINGTON — US scientists have produced a laser shot with an unprecedented energy level that could be a key step towards nuclear fusion, the US National Nuclear Security Administration said Wednesday.

The researchers for the first time delivered a megajoule of energy to a target by focusing 192 laser beams at the same time at a temperature of 111 million Celsius (200 million Fahrenheit), it said in a statement

"Breaking the megajoule barrier brings us one step closer to fusion ignition," said the body's administrator Thomas D?Agostino in a statement.

Clipped from: Focusing 192 lasers on one little target

Clipped from: National Ignition Facility & Photon Science - The Power of Light

The world's largest and highest-energy laser, the National Ignition Facility (NIF), was dedicated on May 29, 2009. In 2010, NIF will begin experiments that will focus the energy of 192 giant laser beams on a BB-sized target filled with hydrogen fuel. NIF's goal is to fuse the hydrogen atoms' nuclei and produce net energy gain – the same fusion energy process that makes the stars shine and provides the life-giving energy of the sun. NIF is a program of the National Nuclear Security Administration. More on NIF ...

 

   

NIC Moves Into High Gear

  The experimental phase of the National Ignition Campaign (NIC), a series of tests and simulations to prepare NIF for its first nuclear fusion experiments in 2010, is under way. Shortly after the dedication of the NIF facility in May, NIC began conducting test shots to fine-tune the performance of NIF´s lasers, calibrate its diagnostic equipment, and verify the sophisticated computer simulations that help to guide the design of NIF´s fusion targets. More on NIC

Clipped from: Dailymotion - Nuclear Fusion by Laser : The Power of Light film from NIF - une vidéo Actu et Politique

The Power of Ligh a film from the NIF (National Ignition Facility) explaining the three goals of the NIF plant :

Nuclear Fusion by Laser : The Power of Light film from NIF
Geüpload door Julienwifi. - Nieuwe video's uit de hele wereld.

Clipped from: National Ignition Campaign: Inertial Confinement Fusion, NIF & Photon Science

All of the energy of NIF's 192 beams is directed inside a gold cylinder called a hohlraum, which is about the size of a dime. A tiny capsule inside the hohlraum contains atoms of deuterium (hydrogen with one neutron) and tritium (hydrogen with two neutrons) that fuel the ignition process.

See How ICF Works for a more detailed description of inertial confinement fusion.

Sources:

1. AFP: US scientists step towards nuclear fusion with laser shot
2. Focusing 192 lasers on one little target
3. National Ignition Facility & Photon Science - The Power of Light
4. Dailymotion - Nuclear Fusion by Laser : The Power of Light film from NIF - une vidéo Actu et Politique
5. National Ignition Campaign: Inertial Confinement Fusion, NIF & Photon Science

    Related:

1. National Ignition Facility achieves unprecedented 1 megajoule laser shot
2. One step closer to nuclear fusion, scientists say (again) | Energy / Fuel
3. Nuclear Fusion Power a Step Closer After Giant Laser Blast
4. Is fusion success in sight? - Cosmic Log - msnbc.com
5. BBC News - Laser fusion test results raise energy hopes
6. Lasers zap fusion doubts at NIF - physicsworld.com
7. Focusing 192 lasers on one little target

     

General Fusion: Generating Nuclear Fusion

clipped from nextbigfuture.com General Fusion is a venture capital funded company that is taking an acoustic wave approach to magnetized target fusion (MTF). The approach is to have a sphere surrounded by steam pistons that drive a pressure wave inward to generate fusion compressions twice every second. They have performed some actual proof of concept experiments at 25 times slower piston speed and performed full scale computer simulations. clipped from www.popsci.com This Machine Might* Save the World Two desktop-printer engineers quit their jobs to search for the ultimate source of endless energy: nuclear fusion. Could this highly improbable enterprise actually succeed? clipped from www.popsci.com

clipped from www.generalfusion.com

The energy from all power sources (except nuclear fission and geothermal) ultimately comes from the sun. The sun itself produces its energy from a process called fusion.

clipped from www.generalfusion.com

Fusion Basics

Fusion is the process where two light nuclei collide and fuse to form a heavier nucleus. A large amount of energy is released in the process and the most suitable reaction occurs between the nuclei of two heavy forms (isotopes) of hydrogen; deuterium and tritium. After fusing, helium and a neutron are produced.

clipped from www.generalfusion.com

Magnetic Fusion

One of the approaches considered to achieve fusion is to trap the plasma in a magnetic field. The negative electrons and positive nuclei in the plasma will spin around magnetic lines but diffuse only slowly across them. The best magnetic machine loops the magnetic line into a doughnut shaped region. So the particles spiral along the field line, go around the doughnut and cannot easily escape. This arrangement is called a Tokamak.

clipped from www.generalfusion.com

Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF)

A different approach is to fill a small (~1 cm) spherical shell of plastic or glass with a deuterium-tritium gas mixture. Intense lasers are fired all around the sphere, exploding the outside of the shell. The rest of the shell is accelerated inwards by the pressure of this explosion and compresses and heats the gas mixture to fusing conditions. The inertia of the imploding material alone keeps the plasma together for a short time. Because the hot plasma exists for only a very short time, it must be very dense to produce enough fusion reactions to make more energy than the laser energy.

Laser energy Blowoff Inward transported thermal energy

clipped from www.generalfusion.com

Magnetized Target Fusion

MTF is a fusion approach that is in between magnetized fusion (MF) and inertial confinement (ICF).

clipped from wsx.lanl.gov

clipped from www.generalfusion.com

General Fusion

General Fusion is using the MTF approach but with a new, patented and cost effective compression system to collapse the plasma.

clipped from www.popsci.com

1. The impact of the pistons sends a compression wave reverberating through the liquid metal and toward the the plasma suspended by a magnetic field in the center.

2. The compression wave picks up speed as it hurtles toward the center, quickly becoming a shock wave powerful enough to compress the plasma quickly and violently.

3. The shock wave hits the plasma, a highly energetic stew of the hydrogen isotopes tritium and deuterium. The force is so great that the ions merge to form helium.

4. The fusion reaction hurls neutrons and alpha particles out through the liquid lead-lithium, creating heat that generates steam to power an electricity-producing turbine.

Related:
Next Big Future: Update on General Fusion : Steam Punk Approach to Nuclear Fusion
This Machine Might* Save the World | Popular Science
General Fusion
Generating nuclear fusion
More money for fusion energy | News Blog - CNET News