Sunday, April 21, 2013
NIF is a success, but so was the TITANIC.
Just imagine where we would be today if the 3.5 billion in construction, and the brain power that was used to construct NIF had been used to advance the nuclear energy industry. Just imagine the implications in terms of national economic security, reduced dependence on foreign energy sources, and the trending to a significant reduction in green house gases. There were two ways NIF could sink LLNL, one was to succeed, the other was to fail. Yep, NIF is a success, but so was the TITANIC.
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18 comments:
Does anyone know if they have made any progress on the low alpha heating and the low neutron yields? I remember hearing all kinds of lab people each with all kinds of supposedly "sure-fire fixes." Surely they must have made some progress in understanding why they still cannot meet the alpha heating milestone.
Nice try at a cheap attack. In many ways the Titanic was a great success. It was the largest ship of its time and paved the way for all future ship designs. An unknown unknown sank the Titanic it was not something that could be foreseen. In any case if with its sinking the Titanic can be seen as success with all the movies, fame, and stories, so much so that they are actually making a new Titanic right now. It has a legacy that will live on. NIF is no different it will change how every future design will be, it will explore the unknown unknowns and there will be a positive lasting legacy one way or another.
NIF will demonstrate why LLNL management cannot be trusted.
NIF will be another milestone in the long history of LLNL FUBARS.
There is nothing more noble in science than the search for unknown unknowns. The ship has been built and is ready to sail. Each shot is an uncharted voyage. And with each NIF shot, you ALWAYS learn something new. That by itself is justification.
Humanity had no previous knowledge of the existence of icebergs prior to the Titanic sinking. So all those passengers did not die in vain. We remember them for their part in the discovery of the iceberg and the hazard they pose to maritime transport and shipping. Remember to tell your politicians that when you ask them to support continued funding for NIF.
April 23, 2013 at 9:40 AM:
HaHa. Very funny. I'd have thought that the various seagoing cultures populating the North Atlantic probably saw one or two during their fishing and whaling work! I'll give you that iceberg monitoring was first established for shipping safety in response to the Titanic, a couple of years later. But "discovery of the iceberg? HeHeHe.
Where is the anger against the injustice of this budget cut? Where is the outrage from the staff members who are affected?
"HaHa. Very funny. I'd have thought that the various seagoing cultures populating the North Atlantic probably saw one or two during their fishing and whaling work! I'll give you that iceberg monitoring was first established for shipping safety in response to the Titanic, a couple of years later. But "discovery of the iceberg? HeHeHe.
April 23, 2013 at 3:07 PM"
The poster did mean the icebergs where first discovered by the Titanic, however the danger that icebergs pose to large ships was discovered by the Titanic. In many ways it is science, you need to do the experiment to know. People did not expect to Titanic to sink, but it did and we learned a whole lot that has served every generation of shipbuilding and navigation since than. In the same we expected that NIF get ignition but in the absence of ignition we have learned a whole lot that will serve the future generations of scientists and engineers
An important lesson that needs to be learned is honesty, integrity, transparency and accountability by government contractors. The fact that LLNS slipped through the cracks with respect to each of these tells us that we need more laws and regulations and more sponsor oversight to prevent such abuses with NIF. That is the good that has yet to come out of the NIF failures.
Hey, grammar Nazi, WAKE UP. We need you to interpret the drivel by April 23, 2013 at 8:12 PM for us.
Hey, grammar Nazi, WAKE UP. We need you to interpret the drivel by April 23, 2013 at 8:12 PM for us.
April 24, 2013 at 8:29 PM
You need the Nazis to "help you"?? Where have we heard that before??
So the countless lives lost on the Titanic is the latest justification for the performance of the NIF?
"So the countless lives lost on the Titanic is the latest justification for the performance of the NIF?
April 24, 2013 at 11:05 PM"
The point is that we need to keep NIF going so that the people on the Titanic that died will not have died in vain.
No one "needs" to "keep NIF going." It isn't and hasn't been "going" anywhere. Just a stagnant place employing lots of people accomplishing exactly nothing for the country, whose tax money they suck up in great quantities.
Meanwhile, as the NIF boondoggle flops & flounders, a serious attempt at fusion -- one not sold with lies and arrogant management blowhards -- moves forward in the EU toward a much saner chance of success. Hasta la vista, NIF!
====
One giant leap for mankind: £13bn Iter project makes breakthrough in quest for nuclear fusion, a solution to climate change and an age of clean, unlimited energy
The UK Independent, April 26, 2013
It may be the most ambitious scientific venture ever: a global collaboration to create an unlimited supply of clean, cheap energy. And this week it took a crucial step forward.
***
www.independent.co.uk/news/science/
one-giant-leap-for-mankind-13bn-
iter-project-makes-breakthrough-
in-quest-for-nuclear-fusion-
a-solution-to-climate-change-and-an-
age-of-clean-unlimited-energy-8590480.html
Nah mfe and icf concepts are all boondoggles. They produce few new technologies and patents compared to private sector driven research and development. Z pinch concepts are the best concept to push because they are useful for other non fusion related measurements and so you atleast get something useful out of it. But NIF is still better than iter for sure. The MFE community is full of the biggest freeloader white collar welfare cases around. PPPL needs to be shut down. Same with the ucsd lab. This is all taxpayer Monet down the drain.
Quick, we need a new NIF thread, or the raison d'etre for LLNL will disappear.
Oh wait, maybe then LLNL itself will disappear.
Never mind.
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