Laser Induced Fusion Ignition Is Now Reproducible

[Robert Zwilling]

The ignition process has been reproduced 3 times this year. It doesn't use anything special and other places should have no trouble replicating it. It takes around 200 lasers powered by 500 megajoules of energy supplied by flash tubes to accomplish the feat the old fashioned way. They make ultraviolet light which is converted to x-rays which strike the fuel pellet. The peppercorn size fuel pellet is overheated until it explodes a number of times, sending shockwaves into the fuel pellet. 2 megajoules is expended and 3.15 megajoules is produced. Another one expended 2 megajoules and yielded 3.88 megajoules. Its a one shot deal, there is no setup for an assembly line of diamond capsules contained gold encased fuel pellets to be fed into the center of where the laser beams are focused. The energy created is enough to boil 10 tea kettles of water. Since it takes a lot of energy to operate a fusion system, the energy would have to come from the process itself. At these sizes, the energy is small, 2 megajoules is about how much power it takes to run a hair dryer for 15 minutes.

In order to continue to the next step of bigger energy outputs it will take a lot of money to upgrade and increase the power of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory laser system which takes up quite a bit of space.

Estimated time to build a working fusion system is 20 to 40 years.

 

[Logan Selmes]

The old saying that "fusion is always 20 years away" still stands true. Someday that 20 years will finally end.

 

[Omits]

Estimated time to build a working fusion system is 20 to 40 years.

After an economically viable system is proven! 60+ years?