More publicity for Omar Hurricane and NIF:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/science/the-challenge-how-to-keep-fusion-going-long-enough.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/science/the-challenge-how-to-keep-fusion-going-long-enough.html
Tri-Valley Cares needs to be on this if they aren't already. We need to make sure that NNSA and LLNL does not make good on promises to pursue such stupid ideas as doing Plutonium experiments on NIF. The stupidity arises from the fact that a huge population is placed at risk in the short and long term. Why do this kind of experiment in a heavily populated area? Only a moron would push that kind of imbecile area. Do it somewhere else in the god forsaken hills of Los Alamos. Why should the communities in the Bay Area be subjected to such increased risk just because the lab's NIF has failed twice and is trying the Hail Mary pass of doing an SNM experiment just to justify their existence? Those Laser EoS techniques and the people analyzing the raw data are all just BAD anyways. You know what comes next after they do the experiment. They'll figure out that they need larger samples. More risk for the local population. Stop this imbecilic pursuit. They wan...
Comments
March 22, 2014 at 9:01 AM
If production costs and federal subsidies are included, all of those (except natural gas) consume more value than they produce. Do some homework.
And what did NIF or any other new energy source of fuel research ever produce. How about absolutely nothing. I'll take all that was mentioned in March 22, 2014 at 9:01 AM post no matter what the cost. At least I would get something in return and it would make jobs for people for decades to come. You need to stop being a parasite on the government dole rooting for projects that only fill your pocket with an income.
Omar will be getting a noble price in 5-10 years.
March 23, 2014 at 7:46 AM
Who's doing that? Apparently you prefer rooting for projects that will empty your pockets and fill those of others. Keep pushing technologies that can only survive with massive government subsidies. If they are viable, they will succeed on their own. Did Henry Ford get government subsidies to develop the successor to horse-and-buggy technology?
Maybe not the Gov't but private money. Rockefeller was anxious to sell crude to his refinery buddies. Standard oil remember. I would not be surprised if Rockefeller threw some change to old Henry.
Incidentally, as to hibachi problems, the Electra KrF laser has operated 50,000 consecutive shots at five pulses per second. As for focusability, the target is about a millimeter in diameter. The genius of ISI optical smoothing is that it produces an ultra-uniform laser beam at the millimeter size, and can be zoomed inward as the target implodes, to improve coupling efficiency. As for pulse shaping, it is more difficult than for glass, but designs show it can meet the requirements. It can even produce short pulses and shocks to enhance target performance. Not possible in a hohlraum.
aided and abetted by LLNL upper level management.
aided and abetted by LLNL upper level management.
March 25, 2014 at 6:14 PM
And rightly so. It is past time to do away with the scientific farce and fallacy that is ICF.
https://www.academia.edu/6453025/HighPowerLaserScienceandEngineering_Laser_requirements_for_a_laser_fusion_energy_power_plant
The political question is whether funds can be found to further test this concept, given the mess that Moses and Lindl made. It will be difficult, but it is too early to determine.
The fact that management of it was given to such leeches is unfortunate for having destroyed the reputation of the facility and obscured its real (and only) value.
...and yet I've heard numerous knowledgeable individuals comment that the Weapons side of the LLNL house did not need or want NIF. The fusion energy mission of NIF inspired all of us to work doubly hard to complete the project. If it was just a weapons machine, I don't think that NIF as a laser/target interaction facility would have been completed. Just my opinion.
March 27, 2014 at 10:36 PM
Taxpayer-funded massive delusion.