- 4414
- NUCLEAR ENERGY
- solution waiting to happen? - In
December 2022, after more than a decade of effort and frustration, scientists
at the US National Ignition Facility (NIF) announced that they had set a world
record by producing a fusion reaction that released more energy than it
consumed, a phenomenon known as “ignition”.
-
------------------------- 4414
- NUCLEAR ENERGY
- solution waiting to happen?
-
- They have now proved that the feat was no
accident by replicating it again and again.
The stadium-sized laser facility, housed at the Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory (LLNL) in California, has unequivocally achieved its goal
of ignition in four out of its last six attempts, creating a reaction that
generates pressures and temperatures greater than those that occur inside the
Sun.
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- The NIF was designed not as a power plant,
but as a facility to recreate and study the reactions that occur during
thermonuclear detonations after the United States halted underground weapons
testing in 1992. The higher fusion yields are already being used to advance
nuclear-weapons research, and have also fueled enthusiasm about fusion as a
limitless source of clean energy.
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- The NIF works by firing 192 laser beams at
a frozen pellet of the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium that is housed
in a diamond capsule suspended inside a gold cylinder. The resulting implosion
causes the isotopes to fuse, creating helium and copious quantities of
energy. December, 2022, those fusion
reactions for the first time generated more energy, roughly 54% more, than the
laser beams delivered to the target.
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- The facility set a new record on 30 July
when its beams delivered the same amount of energy to the target, 2.05
megajoules, but, this time, the implosion generated 3.88 megajoules of fusion
energy, an 89% increase over the input energy. Scientists at the laboratory
achieved ignition during two further attempts in October,2023. And the
laboratory’s calculations suggest that two others in June and September
generated slightly more energy than the lasers provided, but not enough to
confirm ignition.
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- Researchers can repeatedly hit a goal
they’ve been chasing for more than a decade. Tiny variations in the laser
pulses or minor defects in the diamond capsule can still allow energy to
escape, making for an imperfect implosion, but the scientists now better
understand the main variables at play and how to manipulate them.
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- It’s a long way from there to providing
fusion energy to the power grid, however, and the NIF, although currently home
to the world’s largest laser, is not well-suited for that task. The facility’s
laser system is enormously inefficient, and more than 99% of the energy that
goes into a single ignition attempt is lost before it can reach the target.
-
- Developing more efficient laser systems is
one goal of the DOE’s new inertial-fusion-energy research program. The agency
announced $42 million over four years to establish three new research centers,
each involving a mix of national laboratories, university researchers and
industry partners, that will work towards this and other advances.
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- Most government investments in
fusion-energy research have gone towards devices known as tokamaks, which use
magnetic fields inside a doughnut-shaped ‘torus’ to confine fusion reactions.
This is the approach under development at ITER, an international partnership to
build the world’s largest fusion facility near Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France.
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- The NIF latest series of experiments
features a 7% boost in laser energy, which should, in theory, lead to even
larger yields. The first experiment in this series was one of the successful
ignitions, on 30 October. Although it didn’t break the record, an input of 2.2
megajoules of laser energy yielded an output of 3.4 megajoules of fusion
energy.
-
- For more than 50 years, the Palisades
nuclear fission power plant provided safe and clean electricity to southwest
Michigan. Located about 40 miles west
of Kalamazoo, MI and on the shore of Lake Michigan, the Palisades was shut down
permanently in May, 2022.
-
- It was subsequently purchased by Holtec
International, a firm that specializes in managing nuclear fue and
decommissioning nuclear power plants.
The plan was for Holtec to decommission Palisades and then use the
location to build and commission two small modular reactors, the next
generation of even safer, clean nuclear fission power plant technology.
-
- The costs associated with building and
commissioning of two small modular reactors would not be sufficiently covered
by any Department of Energy loan guarantees. And, it was announced that the
Department of Energy would provide a $1.52 billion loan guarantee to re-start
Palisades. Palisades will become the
first ever nuclear power plant to be restarted in U.S. history.
-
- For decades, there has been so much
irrational resistance to nuclear power, specifically nuclear fission, that it
has held back the development of next generation nuclear power, which is far
safer.
-
- The U.S. continues to produce more than 60%
of its electricity from fossil fuels.
The solution has always been there, but ignorance and politics have set
many countries back by decades. This has only meant that countries continue to
use coal, natural gas, and even old growth forests to fuel energy needs.
-
- Perhaps more surprising than the $1.52
billion loan guarantee for the restarting of Palisades, was the messaging
coming out of the government. The
governor of Michigan said of the plans to restart Palisades that it would drive
$363 million of regional economic impact and helping Michigan lead the future
of clean energy.
-
- Nuclear power is our single largest source
of carbon-free electricity, directly supporting 100,000 jobs across the country
and hundreds of thousands of more indirectly.
Has the tide finally turned for nuclear power? Have the realities of
clean energy finally sunk in on those who are misinformed or delusional?
-
- The Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant
commissioned its new Unit 2 power plant just in 2016.
That was the very first new
nuclear power plant to be commissioned this century. The Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in
Georgia began operations last year. It felt like a minor miracle after a decade
of development and an unbelievable cost of $35 billion.
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- So, two new nuclear fission power plants
commissioned in the last 8 years, and now the approval to restart the
operations of a third. The reality is
that energy production and demand continue to rise to all-time highs. And more than 60% of all electricity produced
in the U.S. continues to be from coal and natural gas.
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- If the goal is to reduce or eliminate
emissions, then nuclear power is the only choice for baseload 24/7/365
electricity production. It always has been… And yet, nuclear power, as a percentage of energy
source, has been flat for the last 20 years.
-
- But one thing is certain, demand will
continue to increase. Within a few
years, the increase in electricity required to power artificial intelligence
software will be more than 100 terawatt hours year and growing. And then there are electric cars to recharge.
-
- Aside from the demand, there have always
been some stark realities related to energy production by energy source. Energy sources that require massive material
(thus environmental damage due to extensive mining) and large areas are
inefficient and have environmental and economic disadvantages.
-
- Nuclear energy has the smallest overall
footprint, by far, with natural gas a distant second, and solar after
that. Or, how about the striking images
of what happens to a solar power plant when it meets a hailstorm.
-
- Considering all of the mining that had to
take place to manufacture these panels, which have now become useless and will
almost certainly end up in a landfill somewhere. That’s not the solution to clean energy.
-
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March 29, 2023 NUCLEAR
ENERGY - solution waiting to happen? 4414
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------ “Jim Detrick” -----------
--------------------- --- Tuesday, April 2, 2024
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