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New fusion research facility

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By scooby

 Pacific Fusion proposed Livermore facility:


https://www.livermorevine.com/livermore/2025/06/30/livermore-eyed-for-new-fusion-research-facility/

Based largely on proposed next generation Sandia pulsed power machine that NNSA passed on after failed design reviews. Unclear why investors think a machine that can fire once a day can put power on the grid.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Requires hundreds of thousand of capacitors and gas switches. These typically last about 20,000 shots. Physically impossible to operate at one Hz as the machine would only last a few hours. Really old technology that was basically invented by the Russians in the 1990.
7/04/2025 7:22 PM
Anonymous said…
Given LLNL's attitude toward Z, is the connection of this facility more to do with Sandia west?
7/13/2025 7:50 AM
Anonymous said…
Albuquerque also being considered. A question. Is it at all realistic to fire these devices at a 1 Hertz or faster rate? You have to remove debris, repair damage, mount the next target, align the target, protect the new target in the environment of the previous explosion, etc. And yes these are just engineering details, so you can blame the engineers for any failures.
7/18/2025 10:20 AM
Anonymous said…
They are thinking of D-T fusion. This produces neutrons which hit the surrounding materials. These materials will have to be remotely handled with a half life of a century or so and a volume bigger than from a fission reactor. This has been understood for decades and demonstrated at JET.
7/21/2025 6:25 PM
Anonymous said…
And yes I should add that all D-T fusion projects have this problem with neutrons and radioactive waste.
7/21/2025 6:38 PM
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