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Vicariously Tour the National Ignition Facility

Posted by timothy on from the semi-disturbing-place-name dept.

Dave Bullock writes "The National Ignition Facility (NIF) has been discussed several times over the years on Slashdot and just recently fired all of its 192 lasers. LLNL scientists predict NIF will attain ignition (controlled nuclear explosion) in 2010. For now, take a look at the photos I shot of NIF for Wired.com when I toured it earlier this year."

22 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. 192 lasers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Geez, how much does it take to keep all those sharks fed?

    1. Re:192 lasers? by deglr6328 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Those Wired pictures are nice and all but if you want wallpaper, why don't you just go to the source, LLNL's Flickr page? As an aside, as someone who works at the US's other major laser fusion facility (there aren't many, I'll leave it to you to figure out), I can tell you that all the scaled implosions we've been doing for the past 10 years here validate the expectation that NIF will achieve fusion ignition, burn, and high gain when they go to 2MJ cryogenic DT ice implosions next year. We are extremely excited. This will be the first time nuclear fusion breakeven and ignition will have been achieved in a laboratory. I want you to think for a little while about what the long term implications of fusion energy on technologically advanced human civilization will be. I still don't think very many people realize that this experiment is a MAJOR step in that ultimate goal.

      --
      - "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
    2. Re:192 lasers? by fosterNutrition · · Score: 2, Funny

      We are extremely excited.

      Not as excited as the lasers, I'll bet.

    3. Re:192 lasers? by deglr6328 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well you probably should be unimpressed by the project from the point of view of power generation, since it was never designed with the objective of generating power in mind. And in the very long term I DO think this is going to be cheaper than fission since its fuel source is water an pinch of lithium. Additionally, it will burn radioactive waste from fission plants.

      --
      - "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
  2. 2010? by lobiusmoop · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's a long time to be chargin thah lazers

    --
    "I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
  3. Re:"controlled nuclear explosion" by Cold+hard+reality · · Score: 5, Funny

    Because it's controlled.

  4. Warning light? by johannesg · · Score: 4, Funny

    Throughout the entire NIF facility, emergency shutdown panels listing the status of the laser (using both text and light) provide a level of safety for the hapless scientist or technician who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time before a firing of the lasers.

    Well, I think I speak for everyone here when I say that it was thoughtful of them to provide a warning light before they turn it on... ;-)

    I also hope they have a webcam, especially in that room with the giant tubes (lasers). When the portal storm finally starts I'd like to see those cool lasers ripping through walls, headcrabs, and hapless scientists before I'm turned into a zombie myself ;-)

    1. Re:Warning light? by RDW · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yeah, but the trouble with the whole locked door and unbreakable glass window thing is that some idiot always leaves his coat behind in the test chamber, and goes back to fetch it just when the non-cancellable timelock you thoughtfully installed as a safety feature engages, with hilarious consequences when the beams power up. But the worst thing is you then have to put up with a giant blue glowing naked guy who spends most of his time pontificating about the illusory nature of free will as observed from his own godlike perspective, or something, which is never fun at parties.

    2. Re:Warning light? by MaskedSlacker · · Score: 3, Funny

      But he's apparently fantastic in bed, without having to actually be there.

  5. My one simple request... by grepya · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... was to have missiles with frickin lasers attached to their warheads.

  6. Re:"controlled nuclear explosion" by Jamamala · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's a link to a wikipedia section explaining what the summary means by "controlled nuclear explosion".

  7. This is horrible news. by chrispycreeme · · Score: 5, Funny

    The National Ignition Facility (NIF) has been discussed several times over the years on Slashdot and just recently fired all of its 192 lasers.

    You know the economy is bad when even lasers are losing their jobs..

    *Ba-dum-cha*

  8. Re:"controlled nuclear explosion" by warpuck · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It is more likely to produce a black hole in a bank account.

  9. 192 Lasers, Nuclear Weapons and Fusion -101 by auric_dude · · Score: 3, Informative

    A short video brought to you from those caring folks at Wired http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/10/video-podcast-6/

  10. Re:"controlled nuclear explosion" by clong83 · · Score: 4, Informative

    I used to work at LLNL on another project, but I'll give it my best shot from what I understood of NIF. I toured it once myself, if that means anything...

    In a nuclear bomb, say, they would have several kilograms of nuclear fuel, and the catalyst for the reaction is usually another bomb of some kind. Very uncontrolled, just trying to make a big "boom". In this experiment, they are using very very tiny amounts of deuterium and tritium, and the catalyst is 192 lasers firing simultaneously. The energy output will have a very real ceiling that is theoretically well below what is needed to blow up the whole lab. (Still, it's probably bad to be in the room when it goes off...)

    Their goal is actually to get as much energy out of this explosion as is possible, so if the lab did blow up, it would probably ironically be something of a success... Their real goal is to simply get more energy out than they inject via lasers in a controlled fashion. That would be a proof of concept for workable fusion powered reactors.

    Note, this is NOT a power plant, and my comments should not be misconstrued to say "Hey, them there's a fusion power plant". We're still a long long way from that. Kay, thanks.

  11. One laser actually by stox · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The process starts with a single laser diode. The output of that is split and amplified to make the 192 beams. Pretty amazing when you think about it.

    --
    "To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
    1. Re:One laser actually by Bitmanhome · · Score: 3, Informative

      Right, much like the nuclear program never resulted in anything useful. Or the rocket program. Or the jet engine. Or ARPANET.

      The reason Yucca shut down is due to the populace whining about how unsafe reactors are, beyond all reason. Nothing to do with the government; they were trying to BUILD it.

      But wait, if you order before midnight, you'll get even more stupid: Hydrogen bombs are already fusion devices!

      --
      Not that this wasn't entirely predictable.
    2. Re:One laser actually by MartinSchou · · Score: 2, Informative

      The jet engine? As invented by a British scientist and close to perfected by German scientists during the Second World War? The German version of the jet engine was limited by material science, as they used a layout almost similar to what we have today, but didn't have the materials to make it handle the temperatures involved.

      Rockets are almost as iffy, as the V2 Rocket was the first "real" rocket and a German invention.

  12. Running windows!! by jackchance · · Score: 4, Funny
    Did anyone else notice that they are running windows in the control room?

    That frightens me.

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    1. Re:Running windows!! by im_thatoneguy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well the facility only needs to run for a few milliseconds so reliability isn't terribly important.

  13. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Informative

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  14. What's it sound like? by Bitmanhome · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I've always wondered what a place like that sounds like at the moment it goes off. Is everything so insulated you don't hear a thing? Or does everything shudder like when someone's blasting at a quarry a few miles away?

    --
    Not that this wasn't entirely predictable.