TheVoiceOfJoyce Getting a thermonuclear reaction in the Lawrence Livermore National Lab was a first. Lasers were used to generate energy from heavy hydrogen. This is the first time more energy was generated then went into the hydrogen fuel, a factor of 1.5 in energy gain. Fusion technology can power our energy grids at net zero emissions. Let’s plan to have in a decade, not 2 with the entire academic and start up community participating.

Posted on by jaslvr

www.nytimes.com/2022/12/13/science/nuclear-fusion-energy-breakthrough.html

The laser beams entered at the top and bottom of the cylinder, vaporizing it. That generated an inward onslaught of X-rays that compresses a BB-size fuel pellet of deuterium and tritium, the heavier forms of hydrogen.

In a brief moment lasting less than 100 trillionths of a second, 2.05 megajoules of energy — roughly the equivalent of a pound of TNT — bombarded the hydrogen pellet. Out flowed a flood of neutron particles — the product of fusion — which carried about 3 megajoules of energy, a factor of 1.5 in energy gain.

This crossed the threshold that laser fusion scientists call ignition, the dividing line where the energy generated by fusion equals the energy of the incoming lasers that start the reaction.

“You see one diagnostic and you think maybe that’s not real and then you start to see more and more diagnostics rolling in, pointing to the same thing,” said Annie Kritcher, a physicist at Livermore who described reviewing the data after the experiment. “It’s a great feeling.”

Leave a Reply