Dry-run experiments verify key aspect of Sandia nuclear fusion concept

Sandia National Lab ^ | 09/17/12 | Sandia National Lab

[Moonman62]

This is actually nuclear weapons research, but if it works for energy production, so much the better.

[Ken522]

This must be what Iran is really working on .... /s

[ZX12R]

Too late. Cold fusion machines are now working everywhere. /s

[RitchieAprile]

energy too cheap to meter..

[backwoods-engineer]

Z-pinch is interesting, but like the NIF's laser fusion, this is a "putt-putt" motor, not a continuous reaction. Still, Z-pinch might end up being the first commercially-viable hot fusion.

So-called "cold fusion" (really Low-Energy Nuclear Reactions or LENR) has promise, too, but probably will not scale very well.

[from occupied ga]

crushed by the large magnetic fields of the 25-million-ampere Z machine, would yield slightly more energy than is inserted into it.

Don't get too excited about this. Even if it works (REAL TEST in 2013) slightly better than break even energy isn't enough, You have to take into account the thermodynamics of converting heat into electricity which runs at about 33% in a thermal power plant, so you have to generate about three times the energy required to initiate the fusion just to break even on the electric bill. I've been keep up with the literature on fusion energy generation since the middle 60's and the breakthrough has always been just around the corner.

[Zathras]

Reusablity seems to be what Sandia was missing.
Previously they used Tungsten threads instead of Be cylinders. The Tungsten was vaporized on each firing.

In theory with multiple reactors, it would run like a very large pulse reactor, one firing while the rest were re-loaded.

Very interesting!

[mvpel]

Now when my 8-year-old son asks what a “MILF” is, I can tell him “Magnetized Inertial Linear Fusion.”

[treetopsandroofs]

“This is actually nuclear weapons research, but if it works for energy production, so much the better.”

Yes, of course. Under pressure to cite/publish muslim success stories so that even Freepers will be excited......

[B.O. Plenty]

Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann demonstrated cold fusion in '89...but, alas...

... they were not in the right discipline...

..they were mere ignorant & lowly PhD Chemists....not more superior PhD Physicists....

...how in the world could a chemist possibly be smart enough to do the cyphering that it takes to even know what a fusion reaction looks like?

[printhead]

“You didn’t build that”

[ZX12R]

Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann demonstrated cold fusion in '89

Uh huh. Suuuuuuuurrrrre they did.

[Moonman62]

Don't get too excited about this. Even if it works (REAL TEST in 2013) slightly better than break even energy isn't enough,

They are claiming that 1000 times input energy is technically feasible.

You have to take into account the thermodynamics of converting heat into electricity which runs at about 33% in a thermal power plant, so you have to generate about three times the energy required to initiate the fusion just to break even on the electric bill.

I've frequently seen 10 times as the multiple for making money.

[Moonman62]

Now when my 8-year-old son asks what a “MILF” is, I can tell him “Magnetized Inertial Linear Fusion.”

LOL! I'd have to write it on a slip of paper to remember it, though.

[from occupied ga]

I've frequently seen 10 times as the multiple for making money.

Sounds about right

They are claiming that 1000 times input energy is technically feasible.

Cynicism is always called for when reading about fusion energy claims.

[from occupied ga]

And one thing I forgot to mention, Tritium is considerably easier (but still not easy) to fuse than deuterium, but results in a much dirtier fusion reaction. Tritium fusion produces copious quantities of neutrons which then transmute most of the surrounding structure into radioactive isotopes of the original material.

[Moonman62]

Absolutely. And they still have the big test in 2013. I find that skepticism is called for in response to all scientific press releases.

[LaRueLaDue]

I don’t think so. They are trying to duplicate what happens in a Teller-Ulam thermonuclear device, without the fission (a-bomb) trigger... We can already do this sort of reaction, just not real controlled and at this small scale...

[SuperLuminal]

My understanding was that, under the Emperor’s green-energy dictates, they were going to use a wind-farm output to trigger the actual fusion process.

[DrDavid]

...I've been keep up with the literature on fusion energy generation since the middle 60's and the breakthrough has always been just around the corner 20 years in the future.

I didn't start following fusion until the 70's.