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Nuclear Fusion: Research & Development

Thanks for posting all this. Very interesting! The Wiki-cited reference hosted at Stanford is very-useful in connection with this fascinating phenomenon (PDF is at http://www.slac.stanford.edu/grp/arb...)

Their referencing to this as being a "24-centuries old technology" is a bit of a stretch, though...

I feel that pyroelectricity has to surely be related to the Peltier Effect, which I have seen in operation up-close. In fact, I thought Curie Point temperatures were mentioned in that context too.
 
From August 19th 2021 'Popular Science' article.
Humans just generated nuclear energy akin to a star
A recent nuclear fusion experiment puts physicists one step closer to achieving ‘ignition,’ a promising development for new clean energy.

Physicists at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California focused 192 laser beams on a tiny fuel pellet of heavy hydrogen (deuterium and tritium) about the size of a peppercorn. The fusion they triggered released 1.35 megajoules of energy, about 70 percent of the energy inputted. This is the highest yield the lab has ever achieved so far, eight times greater than NIF’s previous record set in the spring, and 25 times greater than experiments from just three years ago.

https://www.popsci.com/science/nuclear-fusion-successful-ignition/
 
Five sites in England and Scotland are in the final running to be the home of the UK's prototype fusion energy plant.
The government is backing plans for the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (Step) with a final decision on its location expected at the end of 2022.

The sites are;
Ardeer, North Ayrshire
Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire
Moorside, Cumbria
Ratcliffe-on-Soar, Nottinghamshire
Severn Edge, Gloucestershire

"George Freeman, minister for science, research and innovation, said: "Fusion energy has the potential to be a truly revolutionary and inexhaustible energy source that can help us reduce our dependence on unreliable fossil fuels and tackle climate change."

When I see a term like 'revolutionary and inexhaustible' I can only imagine the investors seeing 'dollar signs'. (or at least 'pound signs')

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-58911210
 
Oooh how very attractive.

The Marathon Race Toward Fusion Power Could Be Reaching a Sprint

ITER’s magnet is one 110-ton module of the eventual six-module central solenoid magnet; when completed, the central solenoid will be the largest superconducting magnet ever built, with a field nearly 300,000 times as powerful as Earth’s magnetic field, according to the Department of Energy.

The 110-ton magnet that recently arrived at ITER, one of an eventual six destined to be a part of the reactor’s central solenoid magnet. Sept. 9, 2021
1634743805865.png


https://gizmodo.com/the-marathon-race-toward-fusion-power-could-be-reaching-1847751952
 
Fusion Breakthrough: At the Brink of Fusion Ignition at National Ignition Facility

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
After decades of inertial confinement fusion research, a record yield of more than 1.3 megajoules (MJ) from fusion reactions was achieved in the laboratory for the first time during an experiment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) National Ignition Facility (NIF) on August 8, 2021. These results mark an 8-fold improvement over experiments conducted in spring 2021 and a 25-fold increase over NIF’s 2018 record yield.
https://scitechdaily.com/fusion-bre...usion-ignition-at-national-ignition-facility/
 
Finally, a Fusion Reaction Has Generated More Energy Than Absorbed by The Fuel
A major milestone has been breached in the quest for fusion energy.
For the first time, a fusion reaction has achieved a record 1.3 megajoule energy output – and for the first time, exceeding energy absorbed by the fuel used to trigger it.
(...) at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

https://www.sciencealert.com/for-th...nerated-more-energy-than-absorbed-by-the-fuel
 
Now all they have to do is generate more energy from the fusion than utilised for the running of the complete generation system. They are a little way off that at the moment.
 
Aaaaand....BINGO!
Well done to all involved.
Okay so they only sustained it for 5 seconds, but this can now be improved upon.
"This is a stunning result because they managed to demonstrate the greatest amount of energy output from the fusion reactions of any device in history," commented Dr Arthur Turrell, the author of The Star Builders: Nuclear Fusion And The Race To Power The Planet.
"It's a landmark because they demonstrated stability of the plasma over five seconds. That doesn't sound very long, but on a nuclear timescale, it's a very, very long time indeed. And it's very easy then to go from five seconds to five minutes, or five hours, or even longer."

Oxford's JET lab smashes nuclear fusion energy output record
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-60312633
 
Another milestone reached in fusion energy.
This time by Oxford-based UK tech firm Tokamak Energy which has achieved a heat containment goal in it's small tokamak chamber.

"While government reactors have already reached the 100-million °C mark, doing so with a much smaller commercial reactor at a cost of only £50 million (US$70 million) and having this confirmed by outside observers is quite an achievement."

https://newatlas.com/energy/tokamak-energy-temperature-threshold-commercial-fusion/
 
The Good(?) News: LLNL has confirmed their August 2021 fusion experiment successfully ignited a controlled nuclear fusion reaction (a first).
The Bad News: They haven't been able to replicate the scale of the ignition, and they're trying to determine the precise parameters that resulted in success a year ago.
Scientists Achieved Self-Sustaining Nuclear Fusion… But Now They Can't Replicate It

Scientists have confirmed that last year, for the first time in the lab, they achieved a fusion reaction that self-perpetuates (instead of fizzling out) – bringing us closer to replicating the chemical reaction that powers the Sun.

However, they aren't exactly sure how to recreate the experiment. ...

Once ignition is achieved, the fusion reaction powers itself.

In 1955, physicist John Lawson created the set of criteria, now known as the 'Lawson-like ignition criteria', to help recognize when this ignition took place.

Ignition of nuclear reactions usually happens inside extremely intense environments, such as supernova, or nuclear weapons.

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility in California have spent over a decade perfecting their technique and have now confirmed that the landmark experiment conducted on 8 August 2021 did, in fact, produce the first-ever successful ignition of a nuclear fusion reaction.

In a recent analysis, the 2021 experiment was judged against nine different versions of Lawson's criterion.

"This is the first time we have crossed Lawson's criterion in the lab" ...

Over the past year, the researchers tried to replicate the result in four similar experiments, but only managed to produce half of the energy yield produced in the record-breaking initial experiment.

Ignition is highly sensitive to small changes that are barely perceptible, like the differences in the structure of each capsule and the intensity of the laser ...

The team now wants to determine what exactly is required to achieve ignition and how to make the experiment more resilient to small errors. Without that knowledge, the process cannot be scaled up to create fusion reactors that could power cities ...
Click to expand...
FULL STORY: https://www.sciencealert.com/scient...nuclear-fusion-but-now-they-cant-replicate-it
 
Every minor improvement takes us/them one step closer.

Covering a cylinder with a magnetic coil triples its energy output in nuclear fusion test
A team of researchers working at the National Ignition Facility, part of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has found that covering a cylinder containing a small amount of hydrogen fuel with a magnetic coil and firing lasers at it triples its energy output—another step toward the development of nuclear fusion as a power source.
https://phys.org/news/2022-11-cylinder-magnetic-triples-energy-output.html
 
Trevp666 said:
A team of researchers has found that covering a cylinder containing a small amount of hydrogen fuel with a magnetic coil and firing lasers at it triples its energy output…
Click to expand...

Trial 1: Smear it with gravy and play Enya CDs at it. ❌

Trial 2: Paint it titty pink and ride a unicycle on top of it. ❌

……………………………………………………………..

Trial 18,647: Cover it with magnetic coil and fire lasers at it. ✅

maximus otter
 
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I'm not against every improvement attempt.
But it does seem as though some of these things are arrived at quite by accident.
Which creates a slight concern that one of their attempts might create a black hole, or a portal to hell, or release aliens into our realm, etc etc etc.
It's never just something that will make a nice slice of unburnt toast for you, is it?
 
maximus otter said:
Trial 1: Smear it with gravy and play Enya CDs at it. ❌

Trial 2: Paint it titty pink and ride a unicycle on top of it. ❌

……………………………………………………………..

Trial 18, 647: Cover it with magnetic coil and fire lasers at it. ✅

maximus otter
Click to expand...
I have funding available.
Which Enya CD and what kind of gravy?
 
Which all makes me wonder about the cold fusion experiments that were derided because they couldn't be replicated.
 
Tunn11 said:
Which all makes me wonder about the cold fusion experiments that were derided because they couldn't be replicated.
Click to expand...
The experiments could be replicated.
The results couldn't.
 
Or people are bad at doing things properly.
 
Why does no one just make an announcement anymore? They have to announce that they are going to make an announcement.

I'm expected to announce tomorrow that I'll be going to the shops later that day.
 
Tunn11 said:
Why does no one just make an announcement anymore? They have to announce that they are going to make an announcement.
Click to expand...
Probably because this announcement won't be about much.
'Nuclear fusion was achieved for 30 seconds' - or something along those lines.
 
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