Monday, July 23, 2012

Is this the way out?


New laser power record set at the National Ignition Facility.  The goal is to use the laser to fuse pellets of deuterium.   The question is whether or not they can make the break-even point.

Laser Record Broken: 500-Terawatt Beam May Pave Way For Fusion Energy 

Even I'm an advocate and facilitator of nuclear FISSION energy, the ultimate solution, if it's achievable (and I don't know that it is) to our energy and climate woes, which we share collectively as a human civilization, is NUCLEAR FUSION energy.

Let's hope.

"The National Ignition Facility (NIF) delivered more than 500 trillion watts (terawatts or TW) of power during its historic test shot on July 5 — about 1,000 times more power than the entire United States uses at any given time. That power came from 1.85 megajoules of energy that represent about 100 times as much as what any other laser can sustain."

No comments: