LLNL Experts Foster National Fusion Energy Ecosystem at IFE-STAR Conference
More than 200 fusion energy experts from national labs, academia, and the private sector gathered in Breckenridge, Colorado, last month to assess the state of the art in inertial fusion energy (IFE).
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has a unique role to play in the IFE landscape because its National Ignition Facility is the only lab to achieve fusion ignition and scientific energy gain to date. NIF experiments are designed to assure the safety, reliability, and security of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, and NIF’s ability to achieve fusion ignition provides invaluable data in service of LLNL’s national security mission.
Data from those experiments can also be applied to advance the field of fusion energy, in which the United States maintains a leadership position in a competitive global environment.
The IFE Science and Technology Accelerated Research (IFE-STAR) conference, held from April 7 to 11, was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, Fusion Energy Sciences. LLNL experts played a prominent role in the conference agenda.
As the conference got underway, a NIF experiment back in Livermore achieved ignition for an eighth time, producing a record fusion yield of 8.6 megajoules (MJ) (+/- 0.45 MJ) from 2.08 MJ of laser energy delivered to the target. The result for target gain (the multiple of fusion energy produced over laser energy delivered) exceeding four also represented a record.
LLNL senior advisor John Edwards sparked widespread applause at a Tuesday morning IFE-STAR plenary session when he announced NIF had set yield and gain records.
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