Inertial fusion power plant

The Electra KrF laser demonstrates 90,000 shots over 10 hours, a repetition rate needed for an IFE power plant.[1]

Inertial Fusion Energy is a proposed approach to building a nuclear fusion power plant based on performing inertial confinement fusion at industrial scale. This approach to fusion power is still in a research phase. ICF first developed shortly after the development of the laser in 1960, but was a classified US research program during its earliest years. In 1972, John Nuckolls wrote a paper predicting that compressing a target could create conditions where fusion reactions are chained together, a process known as fusion ignition or a burning plasma.[2] On August 8, 2021, the NIF at Livermore National Laboratory became the first ICF facility in the world to demonstrate this (see plot).[3][4] This breakthrough drove the US Department of Energy to create an Inertial Fusion Energy program in 2022 with a budget of 3 million dollars in its first year.[5]

Conceptual design of the LIFE fusion power plant.
Conceptual design of the LIFE fusion power plant.
NIF target gain over 11 years shows a ten-fold increase in 2021 due to the achievement of ignition.
NIF target gain over 11 years shows a ten-fold increase in 2021 due to the achievement of ignition.
  1. ^ Obenschain, Stephen; Lehmberg, Robert; Kehne, David; et al. (2015-11-01). "High-energy krypton fluoride lasers for inertial fusion". Applied Optics. 54 (31): F103-22. Bibcode:2015ApOpt..54F.103O. doi:10.1364/AO.54.00F103. ISSN 0003-6935. PMID 26560597.
  2. ^ Nuckolls, John; Wood, Lowell; Thiessen, Albert; Zimmerman, George (1972). "Laser Compression of Matter to Super-High Densities: Thermonuclear (CTR) Applications". Nature. 239 (5368): 139–142. Bibcode:1972Natur.239..139N. doi:10.1038/239139a0. ISSN 0028-0836. S2CID 45684425.
  3. ^ Dunning, Hayley (2021-08-17). "Major nuclear fusion milestone reached as 'ignition' triggered in a lab". Imperial News.
  4. ^ Kramer, David (2021-12-03). "Lawrence Livermore's latest attempts at ignition fall short". Physics Today. 2021 (12). Bibcode:2021PhT..2021b1203.. doi:10.1063/pt.6.2.20211203a. S2CID 244935714.
  5. ^ "DOE Workshop Examines Inertial FusionEnergy Research Needs".