Nuclear fusionNational Academies calls for expanded nuclear-fusion research

Fusing Deuterium and Tritium nuclei yields helium and a free neutron // Source: ing.dk

A report out on Wednesday from the National Academies says university researchers studying nuclear fusion still have a long way to go before overcoming the many scientific hurdles to the commercial generation of what is hoped to be a virtually limitless supply of energy.

A National Academies panel, however, says in the report that enough progress has been made, and the need for alternative energy supplies is so great, that the government should consider allowing the use of its National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in California, for tests of creating energy from nuclear fusion.

“An intense national campaign is under way to achieve ignition conditions on the NIF, and there has been considerable initial technical progress towards this major goal, although progress has been slower than initially anticipated,” the panel wrote. Its recommendation is that “planning should begin for making effective use of NIF as one of the major program elements in an assessment of the feasibility of inertial fusion energy.”

The National Ignition Facility is currently used primarily for work related to national security and the nation’s nuclear-weapons stockpile.

Optics.orgreports that at present, the 192-laser NIF is focused primarily on fundamental science and addressing technical issues related to stewardship of the country’s nuclear weapons stockpile — but in recent months the project’s senior management team have increasingly highlighted the energy-generating potential of the technology.

— Read more in Geoff Olynyk, “Fusion research is a wise investment: The United States must not give up its place in the world fusion research program,” The Tech 132, no. 9 (6 march 2012)