A major breakthrough in nuclear fusion energy will be announced by scientists
Researchers working with lasers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory should say they've made a major breakthrough that could lead to future energy sources.
Scientists at a federal nuclear weapons facility have made a potentially significant advance in fusion research that could lead to an abundant energy source at the future, according to a government official.
The advance is expected to be announced on Tuesday by the Department of Energy, which said a "major scientific breakthrough" had was performed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Jennifer Granholm, Secretary of Energy, as well as White House and other Energy Department officials are expected to attend. The Financial Times reported on Sunday that the scientific advancement involves the National Ignition Facility, or NIF, which uses giant lasers to create conditions that briefly mimic nuclear weapon explosions.
The government official, who spoke anonymously to discuss the results which are not yet public, said the fusion experiment at NIF achieved what is known as ignition, where the fusion energy generated is equal to the laser energy that triggered the reaction. Ignition is also referred to as energy gain of one.
A scientist familiar with the results who spoke anonymously for the same reason also confirmed that the NIF has achieved ignition.
< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Such a development would improve the United States' ability to maintain its nuclear weapons without nuclear testing and could pave the way for future progress that could one day lead to the use of laser fusion as a carbon-free energy source.Although not yet publicly announced, the news has quickly rebounded among physicists and other scientists who study fusion.
"Yesterday a scientist friend sent me a note that Livermore had passed the energy gain of one last week and would announce the result on Tuesday," Stephen Bodner, a retired plasma physicist who has long ps been a critic of the NIF, said in an email Monday morning. "They deserve kudos for achieving their goal."
What is fusion?Fusion is the thermonuclear reaction that powers the sun and other stars - the fusion of hydrogen atoms into helium. The mass of helium is slightly less than that of the original hydrogen atoms. Thus, by Einstein's emblematic equation E=mc², this mass difference is converted into an energy explosion.
A fusion that could be produced in a Controlled on Earth could mean an energy source that does not produce greenhouse gases like coal and oil, or long-lived hazardous radioactive waste like today's nuclear power plants.
How to produce starless fusion?Most fusion efforts to date have used donut-shaped reactors known as tokamaks. In reactors, hydrogen gas is heated to temperatures high enough for electrons to be stripped from hydrogen nuclei, creating what is called a plasma - clouds of positively charged nuclei and negatively charged electrons . Magnetic fields trap the plasma in the donut shape, and the nuclei fuse together, releasing energy in the form of neutrons flying outward.
The Tuesday's announcement, however, involves a different approach. The NIF consists of 192 gigantic lasers, which fire simultaneously at a metal cylinder the size of a pencil eraser. The cylinder, heated to approximately 5.4 million degrees Fahrenheit, vaporizes, generating an implosion of X-rays, which in turn heats and compresses a BB-sized pellet of frozen deuterium and tritium, two heavier forms of hydrogen . The implosion fuses hydrogen into helium, creating fusion.
Researchers working with lasers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory should say they've made a major breakthrough that could lead to future energy sources.
Scientists at a federal nuclear weapons facility have made a potentially significant advance in fusion research that could lead to an abundant energy source at the future, according to a government official.
The advance is expected to be announced on Tuesday by the Department of Energy, which said a "major scientific breakthrough" had was performed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Jennifer Granholm, Secretary of Energy, as well as White House and other Energy Department officials are expected to attend. The Financial Times reported on Sunday that the scientific advancement involves the National Ignition Facility, or NIF, which uses giant lasers to create conditions that briefly mimic nuclear weapon explosions.
The government official, who spoke anonymously to discuss the results which are not yet public, said the fusion experiment at NIF achieved what is known as ignition, where the fusion energy generated is equal to the laser energy that triggered the reaction. Ignition is also referred to as energy gain of one.
A scientist familiar with the results who spoke anonymously for the same reason also confirmed that the NIF has achieved ignition.
< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Such a development would improve the United States' ability to maintain its nuclear weapons without nuclear testing and could pave the way for future progress that could one day lead to the use of laser fusion as a carbon-free energy source.Although not yet publicly announced, the news has quickly rebounded among physicists and other scientists who study fusion.
"Yesterday a scientist friend sent me a note that Livermore had passed the energy gain of one last week and would announce the result on Tuesday," Stephen Bodner, a retired plasma physicist who has long ps been a critic of the NIF, said in an email Monday morning. "They deserve kudos for achieving their goal."
What is fusion?Fusion is the thermonuclear reaction that powers the sun and other stars - the fusion of hydrogen atoms into helium. The mass of helium is slightly less than that of the original hydrogen atoms. Thus, by Einstein's emblematic equation E=mc², this mass difference is converted into an energy explosion.
A fusion that could be produced in a Controlled on Earth could mean an energy source that does not produce greenhouse gases like coal and oil, or long-lived hazardous radioactive waste like today's nuclear power plants.
How to produce starless fusion?Most fusion efforts to date have used donut-shaped reactors known as tokamaks. In reactors, hydrogen gas is heated to temperatures high enough for electrons to be stripped from hydrogen nuclei, creating what is called a plasma - clouds of positively charged nuclei and negatively charged electrons . Magnetic fields trap the plasma in the donut shape, and the nuclei fuse together, releasing energy in the form of neutrons flying outward.
The Tuesday's announcement, however, involves a different approach. The NIF consists of 192 gigantic lasers, which fire simultaneously at a metal cylinder the size of a pencil eraser. The cylinder, heated to approximately 5.4 million degrees Fahrenheit, vaporizes, generating an implosion of X-rays, which in turn heats and compresses a BB-sized pellet of frozen deuterium and tritium, two heavier forms of hydrogen . The implosion fuses hydrogen into helium, creating fusion.
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