Laser quest: The scientist with a planet-saving plan straight out of Spider-Man

[autorank]

The Independent (On Sunday)
May 3, 2009

Laser quest: The scientist with a planet-saving plan straight out of Spider-Man

Clean energy forever. That, in a glorious theoretical nutshell, is what nuclear fusion – the reaction that gives stars and hydrogen bombs their immense power – could deliver. The urgency of the climate-change debate and the renewed impetus to tackle the 21st century's glaring energy problems have put fusion back on the agenda... and, thanks to key contributions from the British-trained scientist Dr Brian MacGowan, the highly volatile process may be harnessed to provide us with a viable source of green electricity sooner than previously expected.

Staff at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in central California are confident that some time in 2010, they will create a fusion reaction by focusing 192 intense ultra-violet lasers on to a tiny golden pellet, recreating the energy of the sun for a fraction of a second, thereby paving the way to a carbon-neutral future without global warming or nuclear waste. If all goes to plan, the implications would fairly reflect California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent description of the project as "monumental". Fusion, we're told, could be mankind's salvation – but what are the chances of translating theory into practice?


Dr Brian MacGowan is leading the drive towards everlasting, clean energy

So, will Inertial Confinement Fusion really work? "When we do our first ignition shot we'll be very confident we'll succeed," says MacGowan. "We have a series of about 100 experiments to do before then, which will establish that we've adjusted the laser and the target, and the design of the target, sufficiently well to have a high confidence of ignition. It's not like, now we've built NIF, we'll just start shooting hit and miss."

[sakabatou]

1. Well, we'll have to see.

And hope that Doc Oc is not there to sabotage it.

Do I get a DUzy?

[autorank]

2. He looks pretty intence and sounds that way too

I like the way he described the project, very straight forward.

Lawrence Livermore Labs at the University of California has decades of experience in major
nuclear research. Maybe it will work, in which case, we'll be very lucky.

[w4rma]

3. More specifically, we're hoping that Dr MacGowan doesn't turn into Doc Oc. :) (nt)

[Selatius]

4. I still remember Mr. Fusion from Back to the Future.

Gonna be a while before we get to that, huh?

[autorank]

10. That's priceless

I'll bet one of these energy schemes works, maybe not this one, or any that we hear about in advance.

The MIT scientist who figured out how to aply photosynthesis to solar power (a huge achievement) released his findings in detail without even trying to patent it. He wants to get the job done.

Where's the cord on that Mr. Fusion anyway;)

[DLnyc]

5. Interesting, but some things to keep in mind:

Fusion reactions have been "around the corner" for about 50 years now.

The reaction which these guys are trying for, the fusion of heavy hydrogen atoms, has been achieved and is being sustained as we speak: a large ball of hydrogen, about 1,000,000 times the size of the earth, has been assembled, is being held in place by its own gravity, and the pressure of said gravity generates the temperatures required for a sustained fusion reaction. This ball is conveniently located about 100,000,000 miles away, so that the fusion energy is distributed to the earth's surface at a rate which is usable but not unmanageably hot. The total flux of energy arriving on the surface of the earth is in the realm of 10,000 times the current global energy usage rate.

In other words, it might be more economical to collect the fusion energy coming in from the sun, before we worry about creating more fusion energy in a very concentrated and technically challenging form.

[TheMadMonk]

7. Ten years (or so) off for each and every one of those fifty years.

I like the idea of harnessing that freely avilable emergy, but given that any reasonable move in this direction involves setting up a fission rector within 250,000 miles of a (any) protoplasmic entity, I doubt whether it will ever get off the ground.


GAWD FUCKING ALL FUCKING MIGHTY! If the criteria for the introduction of any new energy source is so stringent (and the average misinformed green demands such) then we are truly fucked where we stand.

I have had ding-dong battles with the frontline troops (ie those sent out to stand on soapboxes) on this matter and invariably, these troops will side with the staus quo, and demand a near impossible perfect solution over any solution which might require compromise on their part.

Until the greens/libs/drug fucked lefties get it into their thick heads that any move (no matter how small) in the right direction is a good one we will continue to lose out. We have to learn the lesson that there are no "perfect" solutions for us, and that any "compromise" equates to a catipulation.

[DavidDvorkin]

8. This approach doesn't involve setting up a fission reactor.

[autorank]

11. I agree

I think all of the science going on right now is part of a process that will produce a real
answer. The good news is that there's no government planning for it. The reason I say that
is the corruption is so profound now, they'd skew it towards some contributor. They can pay
for the implementation of a proven technology.

I'm biased toward Berkeley. It's a good place to have a world saving discovery but anywhere will do.

[Sandrine for you]

14. Cost a lot,a nd take a lot of place...but yes it's a challenge. But we can bet on other things

too, so we have statistical great possibilities for the future.

[truedelphi]

20. Are you nuts or something?

DO you realize that if every household had solar panels to give themselves heat, light, cooling, and other things like TV and computers, why oil stocks would plummet. Overnight!

Jes' whatcha trying to do to the 45 Billion in profit that Exxon Mobil achieved last year?

[BeFree]

6. Great, just great

Then we can all return to mass consumption of the planet's limited resources and continue our over population. And just when we started to recognize our limitations. We are saved!! No more limits!!

[DavidDvorkin]

9. I don't think energy starvation is a route to salvation!

[autorank]

12. You have an inherrent right to a monster truck and all the gas you want

But you probably wouldn't want it if it didn't make you special (although we know you are).

Whatever emerges will take the pressure off of conservation we're not doing anyway. If it
doesn't that means it came along too late.

[BeFree]

13. I do?

Gawd, now you tell me!

Really, this is a cool idea. Who knows, it may come in useful if there is one around and it can be fixed by modern cave men. Lawd knows the women won't be happy if all we can give them is a camp fire.

[autorank]

15. Nope, you get the truck.

If it breaks, we'll just get you a new one;)

[Me.]

16. A Sign Of Intelligent Life In This Universe!

[autorank]

17. Who me?

[Me.]

19. Who Else?

[MilesColtrane]

18. So if it works it may be 11 years to create a working model reactor?

I'd be interested in their estimate as to when, after that point, their reactor breaks even and releases more energy than they will be putting into it