Part 1 - The National Ignition Facility: Exploring Matter Under Extreme Conditions



Six months old. I had not seen it before.

Best presentation yet on the NIF by Ed Moses. He's awfully damn confident that the NIF will demonstrate fusion energy "with gain" in 2010. (Doesn't it just make you giddy with excitement?).

You only hear Moses voice. The entire video consists of pictures, charts, graphs, animations, etc. Moses was apparently talking to a laser-literate audience. A few things went over my head because I don't know much about them myself.

Part 3 was deleted by Standford University for some reason. Parts 4,5,6 are the best.

Video, yuck. Laser Focus World - LASER FUSION-FISSION: NIF is precursor to LIFE project . In Beyond Oil Deffeyes remarked on how he'd been pestering people to consider hybrid nuclear power processes for decades; in his opinion it would be the only way to achieve a viable utilization of fusion, but the tokamakers didn't want any of those filthy unstable isotopes messing up their spotless clean heavy water, an attitude reminiscent of fuel cell proponents, who ignore the hideous EROEI of an hydrogen economy in their pursuit of zero emissions.

Had no idea anyone was researching this; and Deffeyes's book was only published 5 years ago. National Ignition Facility - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia says that it was disclosed in 2001 that the NIF would utilize fissibles. Ken's designs are more about using reactions in tandem, a sustained version of thermonuclear weapon dynamics; still, interesting if this could scale up to something similar.

The video went into more than just the LIFE fusion-fission hybrid - it talked about the plans using the NIF to solve some basic mysteries in the physics of matter at ultra-high temps and pressures. Much of the NIFs agenda is directed at better understanding the Universe.

It was one of these fundamental science riddles that Moses described that went over my head. I'll have to watch it again and take a few notes to look up on Wikipedia.

But right up front, Moses is clear that job ONE is to demonstrate fusion ignition WITH GAIN over the next 3 years - and very likely THIS YEAR. Many other potential projects - such as the LIFE hybrid - are waiting for NIFs scientific validation of what is theorized to happen to matter at these extremes.

If Ed Moses is correct about what he expects NIF to demonstrate - then PeakOil.com truly will have to close down.

The best R&D lasers have a wall plug to laser light efficiency of 10%
Power plants have a 30% efficiency for converting heat into electricity.

So your system needs to have a fusion gain of 30:1 just to get an EROEI of 1.

It's an important scientific milestone but I wouldn't be throwing away the solar panels just yet.

Nonsense. The situation isn't that good. Your fusion system had better not depend on any materials found in limited supply or in what polite society calls "politically unstable" countries.

Still. If it works, great. One more thing to slow powerdown.

Err, doesn't fusion use isotopes of hydrogen or something equally abundant?

Yes.

Even if NIF tends to bear out that a pure fusion facility is impractical, it doesn't preclude the LIFE fusion-fission hybrid - which apparently is on the drawing boards and awaiting scientific input from NIF research. That system looks VERY practical. Moses discusses it a bit in the video. At one point, he says that the hybrid system which he describes may seem like perpetual motion. However, he says, it is not and he shows why.

The hybrid system appears to offer benefits from both fusion and fission while eliminating the problem of nuclear waste.

If they go for Fusion-Fission project, eg fusion neutrons will deliver fission of heavy nuclei, they are going to demonstrate a (very expensive) way of generating fission energy.
Cheaper means to do that are known for last ~70 years.

NIF: Kingdom of Useless.
Millions of $ for each joule of above break even energy, if such an animal can come to life at all...
Stupidity (and wastefulness) of man have no limits... or NIF doesn't have very much to do with energy research at all...

After all it is a weapon design facility...

Maybe someone will come up with a way of reversing the polarity of matter & creating antimatter.