A Groundbreaking Achievement in Fusion Research: The Breakthrough at NIF

Scientists at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) have made a historic breakthrough in fusion research, achieving a Target gain greater than one for the first time in the history of fusion research. This achievement marks a major milestone in the pursuit of sustainable fusion energy, which has been the promise of fusion for decades. The NIF team, led by Director Gordon Brunton, used 192 lasers fired simultaneously at a tiny cylinder containing hydrogen atoms to create a fusion reaction that generated more power than it took in.

The moment of breakthrough arrived at around 4 am, when Brunton immediately checked his phone to look at the results and was overwhelmed with enthusiasm upon seeing what appeared to be a spectacular result. The result showed more energy created when the lasers hit the target than it took to trigger the reaction, which is the first time this has ever happened. This achievement marks a major step forward in the pursuit of sustainable fusion energy, as it demonstrates that it is possible to create a fusion reaction that generates more power than it takes in.

The concept of fusion is simple: two lighter elements like hydrogen merge into a single heavier element. In this case, the hydrogen atoms merge to create helium. The process of the atoms fusing together is known as nuclear fusion, and it is the same kind of reaction that causes the sun to release energy. However, in order to achieve fusion, scientists must create conditions that are more than 100 million degrees hotter than the center of the sun, with pressures that are in the billions of atmospheres.

To achieve this, scientists use a process called inertial confinement fusion. They take a small amount of fusion fuel and deliver it over billions of seconds using lasers. In the case of NIF, 192 beams of laser energy were used to deliver about 2 million joules of energy to the target. The laser energy is amplified quadrillion times as it enters the target chamber, allowing scientists to create conditions that are suitable for fusion.

The NIF facility is a large-scale laboratory that uses two football field-sized laser bays, each containing 96 individual beam lines. The beams start with just a small amount of energy but amplify rapidly as they enter the target chamber. The target chamber itself is a massive structure made up of nearly 300,000 pounds of aluminum, and it is where the fusion reaction takes place. Scientists use a scale model of the target chamber to visualize how it works.

When the lasers are fired at the target, the resulting reaction creates temperatures that reach levels hotter than the center of the sun. The reaction also produces pressures that are in the billions of atmospheres. This is what makes NIF so unique - it is capable of creating conditions that are unlike anything else on Earth. By studying this process, scientists can gain a better understanding of how to achieve fusion and create sustainable energy.

However, it's worth noting that NIF was never designed to be efficient or to produce energy. Its primary purpose is to provide data and ensure that the United States arsenal of nuclear weapons is safe. Despite this, the achievement at NIF marks a significant step forward in the pursuit of sustainable fusion energy, and many experts believe that large-scale use of fusion reactors will become more feasible in the coming years.

Commercial Fusion Energy Projects

While NIF has made a groundbreaking achievement, there are already dozens of private companies working on commercial fusion energy projects. Most of these projects use a different process called magnetic confinement to generate a fusion reaction. However, this is a different approach from the inertial confinement used at NIF.

The magnetic confinement method uses strong magnetic fields to contain and heat plasma to high temperatures, where it can be made to undergo fusion reactions. This approach has been successful in laboratory experiments, but scaling up the technology to achieve practical energy production has proven to be more challenging.

Despite these challenges, many experts believe that large-scale use of fusion reactors will become more feasible in the coming years. The achievement at NIF marks a significant step forward in this pursuit, and it is likely that we will see more progress in the field of fusion research in the coming months.

What's Next?

The team at NIF is already planning their next attempt at ignition, which they hope to achieve sometime in the next few months. This will be a closely watched event, as scientists around the world will be eager to see if they can repeat the success of the December breakthrough. The achievement at NIF marks a major milestone in the pursuit of sustainable fusion energy, and it is likely that we will see more progress in this field in the coming years.

In conclusion, the achievement at NIF marks a significant step forward in the pursuit of sustainable fusion energy. By understanding how to create conditions that are suitable for fusion, scientists can gain a better understanding of how to achieve this elusive goal. While there are still many challenges to overcome, the progress made at NIF is an encouraging sign that we may soon see more practical and efficient ways to harness the power of fusion.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enforeign facility at the Lawrence Livermore lab in Northern California this is where for the first time scientists were able to create a fusion reaction that generated more power than it took in a nearly Unlimited Supply of Clean safe sustainable energy that's been the promise of Fusion for decades but more than 70 years after Fusion research produced thermonuclear weapons we still don't have a fusion reactor that can generate electricity late last year though scientists here at the national ignition facility or nif achieved a breakthrough never accomplished in the history of fusion research we had a Wright brothers moment in achieving what we call Target gain greater than one Gordon Brunton is director of nif he's describing the moment 192 lasers fired simultaneously at a tiny cylinder containing hydrogen atoms for just a 20 billionth of a second I was asleep I woke up knowing that we were performing this experiment at about 4 am I immediately checked my phone to look at results and was overwhelmed with enthusiasm when I saw what appeared to be a really spectacular result that result showed more energy created when those lasers hit the target than it took to trigger the reaction that's the first time that's ever happened scientists have been chasing sustainable Fusion for decades because of what it promises there's no release of carbon so it could drastically change the course of human-caused climate change it's safe there's no risk of a meltdown that comes with our current nuclear fission plants and it's virtually Limitless because it only requires hydrogen the most abundant element in the universe fusion occurs when two lighter elements like hydrogen merge into a single heavier element in this case those hydrogen atoms merge to create helium the process of the atoms fusing together is nuclear fusion the same kind of reaction that causes the sun to release energy what we do here is called inertial confinement Fusion where we take a small amount of Fusion fuel and we take lasers in this case 192 beams that all add up to about 2 million joules of laser energy deliver that over billions of a second and have that laser then enable that pellet that Fusion pellet to go from millimeter scale to down to 100 Micron scale so width of a human hair type scales and if we can do that and we do it right we then get through these conditions that are more than 100 million degrees hotter than the center of sun pressures that are in the billions of atmospheres and if we do all this right then we can start what we call Fusion ignition This Is Where It Starts you're looking at one of the facility's two football field size laser Bays each containing 96 individual beam lines the beams start with just a small amount of energy this is where they come to get Amplified a quadrillion times now it's time to head for the Target chamber where scientists hope that energy will trigger a fusion reaction so this is a one-tenth scale model of the target chamber inside that we're about to see a scale model Andy would be about four inches next to this thing now you can see these ports along the top here and along the bottom here those are the quad ports those are for where the lasers those 192 lasers actually come into the target chamber and this is the real thing we are standing in front of the target chamber this is nearly 300 000 pounds of aluminum this is where it all happens above me you can see these quads those are groups of four out of those 192 lasers that make up this entire facility in front of me here this is called Dante they call it Dante because it basically measures the temperature of that Inferno that goes on when there's a reaction just how hot does it get every time scientists fire this up this target chamber becomes the hottest place in the solar system and what does it do to a Target about the size of a BB this is what's left of a target from a previous shot I asked Gordon to show us what happens inside a Target during an event the laser beams are delivered to the Target which is inside this little few millimeter hole inside the gold can half of the beams 96 beams are delivered in the top half of the the beams are delivered in the bottom December's event required a little over two megajoules of energy to trigger the reaction producing a little more than three megajoules that's about a fifty percent gain and that's why scientists are excited but those numbers aren't the whole story it took about 400 megajoules to operate the lasers that would ultimately hit the target with those two megajoules of energy but scientists point out nif was never designed to be efficient let alone a power plant it's a scientific instrument designed to prove what's possible in fact nif's research isn't intended for energy production it's to provide data ensuring that the United States arsenal of nuclear weapons is safe there are dozens of private companies currently working on Commercial Fusion Energy projects but most use what's known as magnetic confinement to generate a fusion reaction that's a different process than the inertial confinement that happens at nif and while most experts think large-scale use of fusion reactors to send powers to the grid is a decade or more away many will likely point to that December reaction as a seminal event it's not too grandiose to put it as this was a singular moment and when humankind was able to light Starfire in the laboratory and not have it petered out so at the time of filming this scientists here are hoping to make another attempt at ignition sometime in the next few months so we of course will all be anxiously watching and waiting for the results of that so what do you guys think do you think that we'll actually have sustainable Fusion sometime in our lifetimes let me know in those comments below if you enjoyed this video please don't forget to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to cmet for more what the future\n"