Weapons Complex Monitor
February 24, 2014
Lawmakers Push Obama For National Ignition Facility Funding
Seventeen lawmakers—all but one from California—late last week urged President Obama to provide “strong and sustained” funding for the National Ignition Facility and inertial confinement fusion activities at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In a letter to President Obama Friday, the lawmakers, led by Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), noted recent advancements at NIF, which has thus far failed to achieve ignition.
Recent shots on the facility have been deemed a breakthrough on the path to ignition with the energy produced through the fusion reaction exceeding the amount of energy deposited into the fuel. “Just within the past few months, the NIF has recorded several record-breaking experimental shots,” the lawmakers wrote. “These newest results bring the experimental findings more closely in line with the theoretical models, highlighting a promising path forward for more groundbreaking high energy density physics. It is critical that we provide the resources necessary to continue this important work.”
NIF funding has come under pressure in recent years, in part due to the failure to achieve ignition. The lab has recently rebalanced the shots on the massive laser in favor of shots designed to improve knowledge for the Stockpile Stewardship Program while taking a more measured approach to understanding the physics of ignition. “The ongoing work of LLNL and the groundbreaking research being done at the NIF continue to ensure that the U.S. can abide by our moratorium on nuclear testing while maintaining a secure stockpile,” the lawmakers wrote. “Research conducted at the NIF also helps bring us towards a new energy future as we come closer to unlocking the potential of fusion energy. To ensure the U.S. continues to lead, it is critical to build upon the substantial investments already made and provide the NIF with funding that is stable and sufficient to carry out its mission and continue to advance ICF research.”
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43 comments:
http://livermore.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/congressman-asks-president-for-funding-support-for-national-ignition-facility-at-national-lab
Interesting that I've never heard of most of them, and that no really prominent people like Feinstein or Pelosi joined in.
OP: “The ongoing work of LLNL and the groundbreaking research being done at the NIF continue to ensure that the U.S. can abide by our moratorium on nuclear testing while maintaining a secure stockpile,” the lawmakers wrote."
What a crock. The Big Lie about NIF, repeated over and over despite having been proved wrong again and again. I would hope the voters are smarter than that and prefer "lawmakers" who tell the truth.
I would bet that the congress people and their staffs did not write those words about the moratorium and the maintenance of a secure stockpile. I would bet that the phrasing was written by some one at LLNL, who then also organized the signing.
Don't blame the lawmakers, who are only trying to bring Federal money to California. That, unfortunately, is their job.
Don't blame the lawmakers...
February 27, 2014 at 1:40 PM
If the words come out of your mouth, you are responsible for them. "Trying to bring Federal money" is not a license to lie to your constituents, or anyone else.
Cut welfare,cut food stamps, cut the military but please keep my welfare check coming because I'm smart.
POS
"...If the words come out of your mouth, you are responsible for them..."
I agree and that would be nice but usually not the case at LLNS. No skin in the game for most in established leadership positions and no consequence for deception.
Politicians lie and spin half-truths, that's the way it is. It's why scientists make lousy politicians unless they abandon their principles, or never really had any to start with.
Right on, POS.
I agree and that would be nice but usually not the case at LLNS. No skin in the game for most in established leadership positions and no consequence for deception.
February 27, 2014 at 5:05 PM
This is not about LLNS (for a change). Please don't hijack the thread.
Politics aside, what are the scalable "green" energy alternatives to fusion now or 10-20 years out that would address the growing global appetite and demand for energy? More fission plants? Not likely after Fukushima.
I think NIF like efforts must push forward at some level.
"Cut welfare,cut food stamps, cut the military but please keep my welfare check coming because I'm smart.
POS"
Well I try not say anything good about POS but he does have a point. If the money has to be spent I think you get to most bang for your buck by spending it on smart people. By funding smart dedicated scientist and engineers in the long run you can help out employment prospects for the nation, make a more efficient military, improve health opportunities.
"Right on, POS.
February 27, 2014 at 7:12 PM"
Indeed POS has for the first time offered a valuable insight in that funding for smart people is one of the best ways to use limited funding. Indeed it returns the most value for the dollar spent, leading to the growth opportunities in economics, industry, military, homeland defense, and health.
Well if we're really talking 10-20 years out, fusion is a brutally expensive and long-running joke. I think the answer's gotta be fission, using safe reactor designs that aren't built in tsunami zones or staffed by drunk russians, plus reprocessing. It's all about power really, terawatts of continuously available power that can be turned up if you need more, or turned down if you don't need so much. I don't think anything else can compete, at least nothing that doesn't cause much more environmental damage.
7:48 pm: Gotta produce more than BS. ---------Show me the heat!!!!! Fusion, so far doesn't do squat. NIF is just a white collar WPA project. Coal, oil, fission, weak solar is where its at. Pretty sad but its reality.
"...Well if we're really talking 10-20 years out, fusion is a brutally expensive and long-running joke. I think the answer's gotta be fission, using safe reactor designs that aren't built in tsunami zones or staffed by drunk russians, plus reprocessing. It's all about power really, terawatts of continuously available power that can be turned up if you need more, or turned down if you don't need so much. I don't think anything else can compete, at least nothing that doesn't cause much more environmental damage..."
Fission plants "turned up" yes, "turned down" OK, its the off normal "turn off and contain" without brief tag team human efforts that concerns the general public. Would the fission "safe reactor designs" you speak of not require Price-Anderson Act liability protections?
"...Coal, oil, fission, weak solar is where its at. Pretty sad but its reality..."
OK but what happens when the rest of the world demands USA per capita energy consumption?
I'm amazed that veteran posters on this blog missed the irony and sarcasm of POS's post of February 27, 2014 at 4:19 PM. He continually rails against "smart" people, and his post was meant to ridicule people who think they deserve government handouts because they are smart. All you smart people missed that.
bl8:38 PM: The rest of the world already has demanded energy commensurate with that of the "modern" world. The result is already in play and its consequence is global warming at an ever accelerating rate. We need to re-direct our long term thinking and act; its not just a slogan, because it means the end of the good times and unfortunately for us, it is inevitable. We can blog away in our sheltered science cliques and wax eloquently but time is short. Short term solutions in small increments are sometimes more effective than long term comprehensive solutions.
" I'm amazed that veteran posters on this blog missed the irony and sarcasm of POS's post of February 27, 2014 at 4:19 PM. He continually rails against "smart" people, and his post was meant to ridicule people who think they deserve government handouts because they are smart. All you smart people missed that.
February 27, 2014 at 9:01 PM"
No you got it wrong, POS may not be brightest bulb but surely he is not that stupid. Funding science has been one of the most important things that the United States has done and is what made the US the superpower it is today and yes even POS knows that.
All about priorities, isn't it? If you can afford a boondoggle like the NIF, great! But it has to be way down the priority list because it directly benefits only a relative handful of people, and any major long-term benefits (if there are any, dubious) are going to be many years down the road. If you just want to pump government money into the economy, there are more useful ways to do that.
If you just want to pump government money into the economy, there are more useful ways to do that.
February 28, 2014 at 5:46 AM
The government doesn't have any money. It pumps money into the economy (QE) that it borrows from China. Not very smart.
Just once, I'd like to hear a politician admit that you can't reduce the debt (the stated goal of everyone) if the annual deficit is above $0. And that you can't eliminate the deficit without seriously cutting the major expenditures, i.e., entitlements. Meanwhile, idiots talk about cutting the military to pre-WWII levels, which is criminally dangerous and stupid. A major blow-up anywhere in the world would require an immediate draft of tens of thousands of untrained kids. Really, really stupid.
" Meanwhile, idiots talk about cutting the military to pre-WWII levels, which is criminally dangerous and stupid. A major blow-up anywhere in the world would require an immediate draft of tens of thousands of untrained kids. Really, really stupid.
February 28, 2014 at 9:59 AM"
Actually I heard that this is a good strategy and has been thought through very seriously. A growing problem with the current all volunteer military is that the quality of the soldiers has been rapidly deteriorating. This has been going on for some time now. If you force a draft than you will get much higher quality people, and any delay would be offset by having a high quality force.
Also the pre-WWII numbers are actually very high. There was buildup in the US military before we officially entered so the number they mean is around 1940, which is not that much smaller than what we have now.
OK but what happens when the rest of the world demands USA per capita energy consumption?
February 27, 2014 at 8:38 PM
At that point, I think there's no solution other than fission, or else mass extinction caused by global warming. Only mighty rich world powers can afford to dabble in wild ideas like controlled fusion, ideas that won't directly yield practical energy sources. Meanwhile fission reactors are mature technology, and if you can keep the lawyers at bay and keep moving forward, they can be built relatively cheaply, now.
At that point, I think there's no solution other than fission, or else mass extinction caused by global warming.
March 5, 2014 at 7:00 AM
Global warming stopped 15 years ago. Nevertheless you are correct that fission is the only answer.
"Global warming stopped 15 years ago.........."
March 5, 2014 at 8:52 AM
Where was the real world?? Please pass some of that tea you are sipping.
Where was the real world?? Please pass some of that tea you are sipping.
March 8, 2014 at 2:30 PM
Just look at the NOAA average global temperature data. Then read about 1000 news reports over the past 3 years or so. Why do you think the alarmists have banished the term "global warming" in favor of "climate change"??
News flash: The climate ALWAYS changes.
Never this rapidly, not as far as we have any records. I would hope smart people would understand this, it is not about absolute values but rates of change.
it is not about absolute values but rates of change.
March 8, 2014 at 10:25 PM
Rates of change of what? And what exactly can be done about it? Please focus your answer on the actual problem, which is not anything the US is doing or not doing. An absolute ban on all US CO2 emissions (you'd have to stop breathing of course) wouldn't have any significant effect on global CO2 emissions. However, given that CO2 emissions world-wide are up sharply, while global temperature is not, I doubt you'll see that as the answer.
March 9, 2014 at 2:08 PM Sez: (you'd have to stop breathing of course)
If you have your head up your butt, I recommend that you do stop breathing!
If you have your head up your butt, I recommend that you do stop breathing!
March 9, 2014 at 5:15 PM
Excellent, knowledgeable, erudite answer. Bravo.
Rates of change of what?
March 9, 2014 at 2:08 PM
For example averaged temperatures, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1000_Year_Temperature_Comparison.png
What can be done about it is a separate issue. No point in addressing it when there are so many people who don't understand that there really is a problem, or have been convinced by powerful interests that its all some kind of liberal tree-hugger myth.
According to the NOAA global average temperature data, there has been no significant warming since around 1991, despite drastic increases in atmospheric CO2. Then again, the Medieval Warm Period (800 - 1200 AD) and the Little Ice Age (1350 - 1850 AD) obviously had nothing to do with atmospheric CO2. Climate changes. Tough.
Please get the facts straight and stop parrotting Fox news. Just a couple of links out of hundreds explaining why nothing has "stopped": http://www.forbes.com/sites/petergleick/2012/02/05/global-warming-has-stopped-how-to-fool-people-using-cherry-picked-climate-data/, http://www.skepticalscience.com/Global-warming-stopped-in-1981.html
Yeah, Forbes and Skeptical Science are respected scientific sources. HeHe.
I suspect if they were "facts" there wouldn't be significant disagreement among climate scientists, which there obviously is. Why is it that liberals insist on their religious dogma in every area except religion?
I don't give much credence to this rumor that Obama will increase NIF budgets if Christians are banned from the program.
Nah, he just doesn't understand the need for Allah those lasers.
Is that why the top of the NIF building looks like a Minaret ?
Wow, I never imagined that it could be so. Ban all the Christians, and let Jews and Moslems run the place !
Ban all the Christians, and let Jews and Moslems run the place !
March 15, 2014 at 11:25 PM
Nope, Obama is afraid the Jews are Israeli agents. Mustn't let our enemies know what we're doing.
LLNL must be a very strange place to work, if any of these bloggers are really employed there!
Strange indeed. First Dr. Strangelove, nowadays Dr. Strangehate.
I reckon half or two thirds work at the lab, the rest are random fist-shakers or bitter retirees who drink too much.
Don't base your opinion on Obama - not all Muslims hate America.
Not all Nazis hated Jews, either. Didn't matter.
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