NU LASER FISSION URANIUM DRIVER
NU LASER FISSION URANIUM FULL

NU LASER FISSION URANIUM DRIVER

Ĭomparing the driver energy input to the fusion energy output produces a number known as fusion energy gain factor, labelled Q. If the rate of alpha heating is higher than heat losses to the environment, the result is a self-sustaining chain reaction known as ignition. The alphas may impact atoms in the surrounding fuel, heating them to the point where they undergo fusion as well. If the compression reaches high enough values, fusion reactions begin to take place, releasing alpha particles and neutrons. The basic idea was to use a driver to compress a small pellet known as the target that contains the fusion fuel, a mix of deuterium (D) and tritium (T). Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has been a leader in laser-driven inertial confinement fusion (ICF) since the initial concept was developed by LLNL employee John Nuckols in the late 1950s. In one pointed assessment, Robert McCrory, director of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, stated: 'In my opinion, the overpromising and overselling of LIFE did a disservice to Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.' The LIFE program was criticized through its development for being based on physics that had not yet been demonstrated. With the problem of ignition unsolved, the LIFE project was canceled in 2013. NIF failed in this goal, with fusion performance that was well below ignition levels and differing considerably from predictions. Through 2011 and into 2012, NIF ran the 'national ignition campaign' to reach the point at which the fusion reaction becomes self-sustaining, a key goal that is a basic requirement of any practical IFE system.

NU LASER FISSION URANIUM FULL

In both cases, conventional steam turbine systems are used to extract the heat and produce electricity.Ĭonstruction on NIF completed in 2009 and it began a lengthy series of run-up tests to bring it to full power. In the later, the neutrons given off by the fusion reactions are used to cause fission reactions in a surrounding blanket of uranium or other nuclear fuel, and those fission events are responsible for most of the energy release. In the former, the energy generated by the fusion reactions is used directly. Two designs were considered, operated as either a pure fusion or hybrid fusion-fission system. LIFE used the same basic concepts as NIF, but aimed to lower costs using mass-produced fuel elements, simplified maintenance, and diode lasers with higher electrical efficiency. LIFE aimed to develop the technologies necessary to convert the laser-driven inertial confinement fusion concept being developed in the National Ignition Facility (NIF) into a practical commercial power plant, a concept known generally as inertial fusion energy (IFE).

LIFE, short for Laser Inertial Fusion Energy, was a fusion energy effort run at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory between 20. The fusion system is in the large cylindrical containment building in the center. Rendering of the LIFE.1 fusion power plant.

Nu laser fission uranium