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Viability of fusion power plants

 Topic to be discussed. Anonymously contributed.

Criteria for the economic viability of fusion power plants

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10894-026-00577-9

He is talking about nuking Iran!

Former Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is alleging that President Trump is discussing nuking Iran in closed-door warfare meetings.

https://www.the-express.com/news/politics/214056/Trump-iran-war-nuclear-MTG

This is our DOE secretary?

 Watch FOX News Bret Baier ask serious questions and the secretary struggles answering

It is an 11-minute video.

Starting around 3'25", Baier shows his interview of Wright in November 2025 and asked hiin how things worked out.

I cannot understand an educated  grown up can fear telling the truth.

This is our DOE secretary?

https://youtu.be/7slwybiNaG0

Conspiracy theories

 No! Earth’s gravity will not disappear this week! NASA said.

https://nypost.com/2026/08/11/us-news/nasa-shoots-down-conspiracy-theories-that-earths-gravity-will-disappear-this-week/

Allegiances or security

 Going forward, how will socialist or communist associations or allegiances, impact one’s ability to acquire or maintain a Q-Clearance? Because in the past, such associations could be a clearance disqualification.

AI-designed viral genome

 AI has successfully designed completely new viruses, a landmark study in artificially generated life forms:

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aej8512

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aec2657

"Although this is promising for life sciences applications, it also raises urgent biosafety and biosecurity questions. "

Nuclear threat

Anonymously contributed:

As Hiroshima marked the 81st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing on Aug. 6, prayers for the dead were shadowed by anxieties of a world once again facing the risk of nuclear conflict.

 https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16791009

Clean energy no longer a priority

 The MAGA administration ⁠policies scaled back federal support for ⁠clean energy and led to the cancellation or delay of $83 billion in investment across hundreds of projects !!

You opinion?

https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2026-07-14/trump-clean-energy-policies-linked-to-83-billion-in-delayed-or-canceled-projects

The Genesis project

Genesis results

The Genesis project is the new Manhattan project but for AI! It will change the world.

Ok it is not exactly on the scale of the Manhattan project in terms of money or scope, however some people have been claiming this will revolutionize the NNSA labs. I am not sure about that. Here is the numbers from below. They gave out 280 these grant from 8000 submission for a success rate of 3% or less and the paper work was a nightmare.

One very clear message from all of this is that the NNSA labs are not leading the way in AI science in the US . Some good news for LLNL as it can make a real claim to be playing some part but LANL and Sandia not so much.

Funny just how well PNNL did. I know LANL lost a number of people to PNNL the past few years.

PNNL 16

LBNL 13

ORNL 10

LLNL 9

ANL 8

BNL 7

LANL 6

NRL 4

SNL ABQ 3

SNL Cal 3

INL 2

SLAC 1

Fermi lab 1

Savanah River 1

Saudi Arabia deal to enrich uranium

 Saudis and US strike deal for kingdom to enrich uranium, reports say

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/22/saudi-arabia-would-enrich-uranium-under-reported-deal-with-us

Saudis and US strike deal for kingdom to enrich uranium, reports say

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/22/saudi-arabia-would-enrich-uranium-under-reported-deal-with-us

 

LLNL PhD Free Pass

 Anonymously contributed:

How many LLNS or past UC/LLNL employees, were subsidized by tax payers $, to get a free Phd, and not advance their field whatsoever? And instead, just become an untouchable employee, independent of Lab employee conduct expectations?

Chinese AI

Chinese startup Moonshot AI on Friday launched what it claims is the world’s largest open AI model

 https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2026/07/17/chinese-ai-startup-moonshot-unveils-kimi-k3-model-will-it-challenge-openai-and-anthropic/

World's first fusion factory in Livermore

 Fusion energy moved from theory to reality at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Check this out!

https://abc7news.com/post/inertia-worlds-1st-fusion-factory-lawrence-livermore-national-laboratory-aims-clean-energy-source-commercial-use/19482659/

AI and NNSA labs

 As the NNSA labs pivot to being AI labs issues like below will become increasingly important

Opinion: I Was Not Allowed To Type Prompts Into ChatGPT During My Chalk Talk And This Is Discrimination
By Dr. Rachel Simmons, Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University

Let me be clear about something: I am an excellent scientist. My publication record speaks for itself. I have first-author papers in high-impact journals. I have secured independent funding. I have mentored students. I have done all of the things that one is supposed to do to earn a tenure-track position. And I have done approximately 85% of them by typing prompts into a large language model and then moderately editing the output.

This is not a secret. This is how science works now. When I write a paper, I prompt ChatGPT to “write an introduction for a manuscript about [topic] that establishes significance and identifies the gap in the literature.” When I design experiments, I ask Claude to “suggest controls for a CRISPR knockout study in mammalian cells.” When I draft grants, I request “specific aims for an R01 on [research area] that are innovative but not so innovative that study section will be confused.” This is my scientific process. It is efficient. It is modern. And it produces results.

Others will say that a scientist should be able to explain their own research without assistance. This reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of what “my own research” means in 2025. My research is a collaboration between me and several large language models. We are co-investigators. When you ask me to explain my research without ChatGPT, you are asking me to speak on behalf of a collaborator who is not in the room. Would you ask a PI to give a talk without allowing them to mention the work of their postdocs?

MAGA hypocrisy

 How does anyone working for  the DOE National Labs feel about the occupant of the white house receiving a  $400 million gift from QATAR?  A 747 jet for those of you who dont follow the news!Lab employees cannot even receive more than $25 or $30 from vendors and risk their security clearance if they violate the policy. 

Social security cuts are coming!

SSA Warns CUTS to Social Security Checks Coming

“Social Security is headed for a day of reckoning, and Congress is running out of time to save boomers. Lawmakers are proposing some hard choices”

-FORTUNE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKC3YgYZPPw

Change in recurring laser energy

 “The EYC project will raise NIF’s peak recurring laser energy from 2.2 megajoules to 2.6 megajoules.”

Are there new or planned upgrades to the NIF optical system to effectively handle
the higher energy without increasing optical maintenance or replacement intervals?

https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/articles/nnsa-and-lawrence-livermore-national-laboratory-advance-laser-upgrade-nuclear-0

Pu research at LLNL

 Pu Research and Security Increases at LLNL

https://www.livermorevine.com/livermore/2026/06/17/environmental-group-opposes-increased-plutonium-research-at-llnl-as-feds-seek-to-expand-nuclear-weapons-production/

https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2026-05/arod-eis-0547-s1-llnl-site-wide-2026-05.pdf

Nuclear fusion is in deep trouble

 “Things Aren’t Looking Good For Nuclear Fusion”

“…Basically it’s a way to circumvent proof of commercial viability…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVw5TKUil3o