The heat from that fusion sustains the reaction until it runs out of fuel or becomes lopsided and falters. The intense X-rays cause the outer layer of the pellet to blow off explosively, compressing the pellet interior and triggering fusion. That's converted first into 2 megajoules of ultraviolet light, then into X-rays that strike a peppercorn sized pellet of fusion fuel. NIF triggers fusion using 192 powerful infrared lasers with a combined energy level of 4 megajoules - about the same as a two-ton truck traveling at 100mph. Many of those requesting it are from investment firms, he added. Downloads of the Fusion Industry Association's annual report, which details the $4.8 billion in venture capital investments in fusion energy startups, increased tenfold since the NIF achievement was announced, Holland said. TAE Technologies CEO Michl Binderbauer called NIF's result "a huge stepping stone into the dawn of the fusion age," and said it's an important illustration that fusion energy really is plausible. Scientists could benefit somewhat from the NIF experiment by updating fusion physics models to account for the fact that it's supplying its own heat instead of relying on external sources, said Andrew Holland, chief executive of the Fusion Industry Association, an advocacy group for the industry.Īnd the attention could help, too, especially given longrunning skepticism about fusion energy. Lowering fusion's cost is critical to its success since it'll have to compete against zero-carbon alternatives like today's fission-based nuclear reactors that can generate a steady supply of power and renewables like wind and solar that are cheaper but intermittent.Īre there at least some less direct benefits from NIF's results? In comparison, " magnetic confinement fusion holds some real promise," he tweeted. Huge inefficiencies in NIF's lasers and in the conversion of fusion heat to electrical power mean its design is inherently impractical. "Don't expect future fusion plants to look anything like NIF," said Princeton researcher Wilson Ricks in a tweet. For another, NIF is a gargantuan, $3.5 billion national lab project funded to research nuclear weapons, not a project designed to produce reliable energy for the grid at the most competitive cost. For one thing, most commercial fusion energy projects are using various forms of magnetic confinement, not NIF's laser-based approach, so the engineering challenges are different. What does the NIF experiment mean for green power? Think a little bit more carefully before you repeat that oft-quoted snarky remark that fusion is the energy source of the future and always will be. But given fusion's reputation for not ever getting there, it's an important proof of what's possible. In some ways, it's an academic milestone, one that fusion experiments have nudged toward for decades. And fusion reactors will have to reach Q = 10 much more frequently than NIF can. That's what everybody is aiming for, including another massive government-funded project called ITER in France. Fusion researchers denote the ratio of output energy to input energy with the letter Q, and this is the first time a fusion reaction surpassed Q = 1.įusion reactors will have to reach a threshold of Q = 10 before energy generation is practical. It crossed a critical threshold for fusion where the energy that the fusion reaction generated - 3.15 million joules - exceeded the 2.05 megajoules the lasers pumped out to trigger the reaction. What did the experiment at NIF accomplish? It's more widespread among companies trying to commercialize fusion energy.
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