Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough Confirmed: California Team Achieved Ignition

[1srelluc]

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.

 

[Dekster]

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.

How much electricity did they expend making this spark?

 

[JGalt]

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

Farewell California.

 

[MarathonMike]

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

 

[1srelluc]

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

That why I was glad to hear they are messing with it in CA.

I doubt I'll live to see it but I wonder how much all that "free" energy is going to cost?

 

[Moonglow]

That why I was glad to hear they are messing with it in CA.

I doubt I'll live to see it but I wonder how much all that "free" energy is going to cost?

At least one black hole.

 

[JohnDB]

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)

 

[1srelluc]

At least one black hole.

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

Tritium - Wikipedia

 

[Moonglow]

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

Tritium - Wikipedia

Thus the need to mine in space.

 

[1srelluc]

Thus the need to mine in space.

 

[JohnDB]

Thus the need to mine in space.

Naturally occurring tritium is extremely rare on Earth. The atmosphere has only trace amounts, formed by the interaction of its gases with cosmic rays. It can be produced artificially by irradiating lithium metal or lithium-bearing ceramic pebbles in a nuclear reactor and is a low-abundance byproduct in normal operations of nuclear reactors.

Tritium is used as the energy source in radioluminescent lights for watches, gun sights, numerous instruments and tools, and even novelty items such as self-illuminating key chains. It is used in a medical and scientific setting as a radioactive tracer. Tritium is also used as a nuclear fusion fuel, along with more abundant deuterium, in tokamak reactors and in hydrogen bomb
From Wikipedia .

 

[JGalt]

Thus the need to mine in space.

Someone should mine the space between your ears. I heard Oblivium is going for a premium price these days.

 

[1srelluc]

Someone should mine the space between your ears. I heard Oblivium is going for a premium price these days.

 

[JGalt]

Moonglow is my favorite turd. I wouldn't shit him.

 

[Carl in Michigan]

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)

Almost everything you said here is false. Not even worth going thru

 

[Carl in Michigan]

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.

 

[JohnDB]

Almost everything you said here is false. Not even worth going thru

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.

So everything I say is false until you super-simplify restate exactly what I said yourself....what a stuffed shirt!

 

[Carl in Michigan]

So everything I say is false until you super-simplify restate exactly what I said yourself....what a stuffed shirt!

Okay ONE example:

You've confused fission with fusion. They are completely different

 

[Carl in Michigan]

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

 

[JohnDB]

Okay ONE example:

You've confused fission with fusion. They are completely different

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.