Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough Confirmed: California Team Achieved Ignition

[CarlinAnnArbor]

Tsar Bomba was never built as a useable weapon.

Looks pretty usable to me.

 

[Dayton3]

Well yes, but keep in mind these are still not pure fusion devices, they actually rely on a fissile explosion as the trigger for initiating the fusion process and even some of the fusion explosion actually comes back as increased fission.

Contrarily, many of our atomic "fissile" bombs actually use a bit of fusion in the detonation. They call it "boosting" by inserting a bit of fusible gas products like Tritium, at the center of the fissile explosion to be "fused" thus adding to the output.

But Castle Bravo was a clusterfuck in that the scientists at Los Alamos failed to realize that much of the "inert" lithium-7 product in the bomb actually would add to the conversion process, ending up tripling the expected detonation far beyond what they were prepared for or had warned the surrounding international community to expect.

What I was talking about was a pure fusion process utilized as a weapon.

To date, every fusion device we have created is really just a staged fissile device whose final stage results in some fusion as well to increase the final yield.

You never said "pure fusion bomb".

You're still just arguing semantics.

 

[Dayton3]

Looks pretty usable to me.

It was never built as a remotely usable weapon. Way to large and bulky for starters.

 

[toobfreak]

You never said "pure fusion bomb". You're still just arguing semantics.

Not at all. This thread was about FUSION technology.

If you look at post #49, I referenced my comment about the government making weapons in relation to them making a REAL WORKING FUSION REACTOR in which you said we already had fusion weapons, and all I did is point out that our hydrogen bombs, et al, are really only just still a hybrid technology built off of still depending on fission reactions!

That is not semantics. Two very dissimilar processes are involved. Right now we still depend on staging a fissile explosion in order to multiply the neutron density of the reaction needed in order to sustain a millionth of a second implosion of a fusible substance such as hydrogen/deuterium/tritium/lithium dueteride 6/7 in order to magnify the extent of the reaction.

The telling truth is that if Castle Bravo or any of your weapons were actually a true FUSION device, there never would have been any or all of the heavy radiation fallout which plagued the test site that ended up polluting several islands and ships and half of the Pacific.

Granted we INCLUDE a limited fusion process in with some of our hybrid weapons now to boost their strength, but we couldn't do it without the fission reaction in the first place to start the process.

To use fission in a fusion power plant would completely defeat the purpose of seeking unlimited clean energy.

A true fusion weapon has no critical mass to exceed, so has no dirty fissile radiative fallout component to deal with other than the immediate neutron flux which is one of the desired aspects of a fusion weapon as it kills the target without leaving any lingering half-life damage, other than the actual kinetic, concussive force of the explosion.

Pure fusion weapon technology then might almost make "nuclear war" clean, practical and attractive.

But to the point, I think we are still easily 50-100 years away if not further from actual fusion energy as a replacement to coal, NG, hydro, wind or solar for power generation.

 

[Captain Caveman]

Thats GREAT, but you're talking about 2 different stories.

5 full seconds, if true, is MAJOR though

Sorry, I was just talking about fusion in general.

 

[Captain Caveman]

None of this is NEW.

They've achieved fusion for decades. The problem is, they can't CONTAIN it long enough for a sustained reaction.

Currently

 

[San Souci]

That's cool, but if they try to go bigger and f* it up, that will be the mother of all scientific oopsies.

Possible. But the Manhatten Project was also dangerous. Can't get results without risk. Nature of the besst.

 

[the other mike]

What we need to do is unseal and declassify everything that's hidden in the Nicola Tesla vault at the Pentagon, area 51 and some other spots.

 

[the other mike]

A major breakthrough in nuclear fusion has been confirmed a year after it was achieved at a laboratory in California.

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL's) National Ignition Facility (NIF) recorded the first case of ignition on August 8, 2021, the results of which have now been published in three peer-reviewed papers.

Nuclear fusion is the process that powers the Sun and other stars: heavy hydrogen atoms collide with enough force that they fuse together to form a helium atom, releasing large amounts of energy as a by-product. Once the hydrogen plasma "ignites", the fusion reaction becomes self-sustaining, with the fusions themselves producing enough power to maintain the temperature without external heating.

Ignition during a fusion reaction essentially means that the reaction itself produced enough energy to be self-sustaining, which would be necessary in the use of fusion to generate electricity.

If we could harness this reaction to generate electricity, it would be one of the most efficient and least polluting sources of energy possible. No fossil fuels would be required as the only fuel would be hydrogen, and the only by-product would be helium, which we use in industry and are actually in short supply of.

The problem with fusion energy at the moment is that we do not have the technical capabilities to harness this power. Scientists from across the world are currently working to solve these issues.

In this latest milestone at the LLNL, researchers recorded an energy yield of more than 1.3 megajoules (MJ) during only a few nanoseconds. For reference, one MJ is the kinetic energy of a one tonne mass moving at 100mph.

Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough Confirmed: California Team Achieved Ignition

OK that explains a few things.....What I can't figure out is if they have opened another timeline and the crazies escaped or have opened the Upside Down.

California's first major project should be a desalination plant to pump water over to Lake Mead and keep Hoover Dam going.

 

[1srelluc]

California's first major project should be a desalination plant to pump water over to Lake Mead and keep Hoover Dam going.

Nah, they think they are entitled to other state's water.

 

[CarlinAnnArbor]

Nah, they think they are entitled to other state's water.

If they could get away with it, they'd drain the Great Lakes for their own selfish needs

 

[Cougarbear]

Nope....
Hydrogen bombs, neutron bombs, "tac nukes" been around a long time. A lot of the MERV technology missiles use fusion bombs...for when you want to destroy a whole nation but claim its resources.

Fission is what we dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But we have tested all sorts of different fusion reactions over the years until treaties prevented it. But fission has a huge amount of lingering radiation. Fusion has a huge burst of radiation (which sterilizes all organic life) but then it's over and radiation levels go back to normal except for a small area at the epicenter.

Fission is a lot cooler than fusion reactions. Fission is containable....fusion has demonstrated a capability of burning everything it gets near. Not all fusion reactions are completely containable either.
They were working on liquid helium cooled reactors for plutonium fission reactions....but it still gets too hot and the cores have to be replaced too often to be economically viable. The pressures in the cores were also insane.

Nuclear power plants are not a good idea. I get the attraction of supposedly "clean power". But the two main detractors are the brown site they leave behind and that they are great targets for our enemies.

I'm not exactly a coal fan either. Mercury poisoning of our waterways is not exactly a positive. They have developed better scrubbers for the exhaust but implementing them is expensive.
Clean coal tech is something worth exploring. It's been abandoned and forgotten. But it's actually a renewable resource. We can utilize the mountains of unusable Yellow coal we currently have and make more from any organic material available. Very small brown site footprint for the processes. And it would assist in forest management keeping the forest fires at bay. Lots of percs for clean coal technology.

Gavin Newsom has the solution. Make all energy used today illegal in 2035 and must be replaced with Nuclear Fission. We will put pea size fission reactors in our cars too! And all must be done by 2035 to make sure scientists get it done! If they don't, Gavin will kill all of the scientists.

 

[mamooth]

What we need to do is unseal and declassify everything that's hidden in the Nicola Tesla vault at the Pentagon, area 51 and some other spots.

Tesla was one of the greatest electrical engineers ever. He invented the AC motor that still drives the world today. That's his legacy.

However, his physics sucked. None of his junk worked.

No, it's not possible to electrify the ground so that anyone can tap into it for free power.

And no, it's not possible to make a long-distance death ray from ionized particles.

 

[CarlinAnnArbor]

Tesla was one of the greatest electrical engineers ever. He invented the AC motor that still drives the world today. That's his legacy.

However, his physics sucked. None of his junk worked.

No, it's not possible to electrify the ground so that anyone can tap into it for free power.

And no, it's not possible to make a long-distance death ray from ionized particles.

He has a cult following that thinks a sci-fi miracle world died with him.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

I wondered what that loud explosion was that I heard out to the west of here.

Farewell California.

The lab is

This article is so misleading that it's ridiculous.
It also violates our nuclear treaties with other nations like Russia and China and most of NATO.

Nuclear fusion is your average, run of the mill, tactical nuke.

Now these guys making all the noise have just broken the treaty. But if they are working through a loophole in the treaty....it still is a nothing burger.

Nuclear fusion AKA a hydrogen bomb produces too much heat to be effectively controlled and contained.

Cold fusion is exciting....normal hydrogen fusion is not.

Currently for a plant utilizing regular hydrogen fusion with tons of water that only the Mississippi River could produce....it would need walls of concrete, steel, and lead thicker than the Hoover Dam...and would last 6 months before containment breach would occur....meaning that the whole facility would need to be rebuilt.
Getting the picture yet? Talk about a brown site....

So when this technology is actually viable (and they have been looking for it for the past 50 years)

What treaties? The ones we don't have or never signed?

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

California's first major project should be a desalination plant to pump water over to Lake Mead and keep Hoover Dam going.

Why in the world would you want to pump water to Arizona just to take it out when it got to California?

 

[ThunderKiss1965]

They will have to find enough Tritium to even get the ball rolling and it's in very short supply.

Tritium - Wikipedia

Helium-3 is rare on Earth but the Moon may be covered in it. If Fusion power is an attainable goal we should be putting our resources into a permanent base on the Moon instead of sending people to Mars.

Harnessing Power from the Moon - NASA

Can our moon help fuel an energy-hungry Earth?

www.nasa.gov

 

[Dayton3]

Helium-3 is rare on Earth but the Moon may be covered in it. If Fusion power is an attainable goal we should be putting our resources into a permanent base on the Moon instead of sending people to Mars.

Harnessing Power from the Moon - NASA

Can our moon help fuel an energy-hungry Earth?

www.nasa.gov

Hold on. While Helium 3 is far more common on the moon than on Earth it is still very rare. In fact you would have to process about one million tons of lunar soil to get one ton of Helium 3.

A far better option is the atmosphere of Saturn. Send a remote processing station to hang in its atmosphere from a balloon and suck in gases and separate them. Jupiter, of course, has it too but Jupiter's gravity is so great that it might make lifting the Helium 3 out of the atmosphere prohibitive.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

I think it hilarious with all the "putting the cart before the horse" going on in this thread. It is a collection of nerds beyond belief!

 

[miketx]

This article is so misleading that it's ridiculous.
It also violates our nuclear treaties with other nations like Russia and China and most of NATO.

Nuclear fusion is your average, run of the mill, tactical nuke.

Now these guys making all the noise have just broken the treaty. But if they are working through a loophole in the treaty....it still is a nothing burger.

Nuclear fusion AKA a hydrogen bomb produces too much heat to be effectively controlled and contained.

Cold fusion is exciting....normal hydrogen fusion is not.

Currently for a plant utilizing regular hydrogen fusion with tons of water that only the Mississippi River could produce....it would need walls of concrete, steel, and lead thicker than the Hoover Dam...and would last 6 months before containment breach would occur....meaning that the whole facility would need to be rebuilt.
Getting the picture yet? Talk about a brown site....

So when this technology is actually viable (and they have been looking for it for the past 50 years)

Fake news, fusion produces no radiation.