How NIF achieved its nuclear fusion breakthrough
How NIF achieved its nuclear fusion breakthrough
Scientists produced the world’s first fusion reaction with net energy gain — a major milestone in the decades-long quest for unlimited, cheap, clean power. Here’s what that means. Subscribe to The Washington Post on YouTube: https://wapo.st/2QOdcqK
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0.06 -> on December 5th scientists produced the
2.639 -> world's first fusion reaction with net
4.38 -> energy gain a major milestone in the
6.839 -> decades-long quest to develop a
8.639 -> technology that could provide unlimited
10.38 -> cheap clean power
12.74 -> simply put this is one of the most
16.44 -> impressive scientific Feats of the 21st
19.98 -> Century
21.24 -> nuclear fusion is the ultimate clean
23.46 -> energy dream the Holy Grail of carbon
25.68 -> free Power that scientists have been
27.48 -> chasing for decades in fact experiments
30.24 -> with Fusion go back almost as far as
31.92 -> those with fission with the first fusion
34.14 -> bomb detonated by the U.S in 1952
37.559 -> you know the thing is that many people
39.48 -> have gotten the idea that until you know
42.899 -> December 5 we didn't know how Fusion
44.52 -> worked no no no no no no
46.559 -> how Fusion Works was understood
49.8 -> over 70 years ago the question is how do
52.86 -> you do it in a controlled fashion in the
54.66 -> laboratory
56.039 -> that was not understood so how did they
58.92 -> do it
60.239 -> the Breakthrough took place at the
61.739 -> national ignition facility a part of the
63.899 -> Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
65.64 -> in California researching high energy
67.74 -> science and nuclear deterrence
69.9 -> the facility is the size of a sports
71.76 -> stadium and has one of the most powerful
74.1 -> laser arrays in the world and all of it
76.56 -> to create a reaction that lasts less
78.24 -> than a billionth of a second
80.4 -> so Fusion is a reaction between two
83.64 -> atoms where they come together to form a
86.1 -> heavier atom and energy is also released
88.619 -> in that process and the energy that
90.84 -> comes out in that Neutron is the energy
92.7 -> that we can then harness to use for
94.92 -> other experiments or potentially for
96.78 -> Fusion Energy
98.34 -> there's different ways of doing this
101.04 -> using magnets or using lasers here we
104.04 -> use lasers they're the result of Decades
107.52 -> of research and Innovation and the
110.28 -> national ignition facility itself is
112.68 -> unique there's no other facilities that
115.14 -> can deliver the same kind of energy as
118.439 -> the nif can currently
120.72 -> it all begins with a single pulse a
123.24 -> stream of photons is Amplified and split
125.399 -> again and again until there are 192
128.759 -> lasers in total
130.38 -> their target is a three-story High
132.18 -> vessel called the target chamber inside
134.52 -> the lasers are directed towards a small
136.86 -> capsule called a whole realm containing
139.14 -> a pellet of hydrogen atoms about half
141.3 -> the size of a BB
142.92 -> as the beams strike the high temperature
145.2 -> and immense pressure cause the hydrogen
147.599 -> atoms to fuse together and release
149.22 -> energy about 50 percent more than what
151.8 -> went into it the reaction creates what
153.959 -> amounts to a miniature star
156.3 -> it was clear it was going to be very
157.98 -> hard
159.959 -> and they figured it out it is amazing
162.78 -> it's an amazing achievement my first
165.84 -> reaction was oh my gosh we did it
169.68 -> one of our Engineers actually thought
171.78 -> that there was something wrong with our
173.04 -> diagnostic system initially because the
175.26 -> signal was so much bigger than what we
177.66 -> had anticipated it might be so as soon
180.54 -> as we started to see that very early
182.099 -> data coming in our response was oh my
184.739 -> gosh this is awesome we did it but then
187.2 -> as scientists we have to be very careful
189.48 -> before we jump to conclusions so we went
192.48 -> into a period of more intense analysis
194.7 -> of all of the data while the
196.86 -> possibilities for Fusion are huge there
198.659 -> are a number of challenges it faces
200.22 -> before commercial use the amount of
202.5 -> energy from the grid which charged nif's
205.14 -> large capacitors and created that first
207.06 -> laser was Far larger than the net energy
209.34 -> gain from Fusion by nearly 100 fold
213.12 -> the nif was actually built using 1990s
216.3 -> Laser Technology because that was the
218.099 -> time when we started the project so in
221.04 -> order to make this more efficient
222.36 -> essentially we need better technology
225.78 -> deuterium one of the ingredients in the
227.819 -> fusion reaction is abundant in seawater
230.099 -> but the other isotope tritium a
232.739 -> byproduct of nuclear reactors is harder
234.959 -> to come by nif
237.56 -> shoots at the power level that was used
240.84 -> on December 5 roughly speaking once a
243.12 -> day if you made a fusion wheel that used
246.18 -> a similar kind of reaction you'd have to
248.28 -> shoot 10 times a second 24 7. you need a
252.54 -> lot of pellets
254.099 -> hundreds of thousands of pellets they
256.739 -> have to be made perfectly just like the
259.26 -> one that was used was made perfectly you
262.8 -> have the challenge of then how do you
265.44 -> actually use the energy that's coming
267.36 -> out to actually produce electricity but
270.12 -> for all its obstacles there are obvious
272.28 -> advantages that scientists are looking
273.9 -> forward to with Fusion when we burn
275.94 -> fossil fuels we all know that we release
278.28 -> a lot of greenhouse gases that can be
280.68 -> harming to our environment with nuclear
283.08 -> energy sources both fission and fusion
285.12 -> we're not releasing those same kinds of
286.8 -> products and then Fusion has the added
289.02 -> advantage that it's about four times
291.06 -> more efficient per unit mass than
293.04 -> fission is and it's also a much cleaner
295.86 -> source of energy because we don't
297.6 -> produce those radioactive spent fuel
300.78 -> products that fission reactors produce
303.84 -> so when could Fusion actually power our
305.94 -> homes
306.84 -> that's the trillion dollar question
309.36 -> experts argue that it's not a matter of
311.1 -> time but a matter of money ultimately
313.139 -> the decision would be made at the
314.58 -> political level
315.96 -> Money Matters especially when budgets
318.96 -> are being affordable
320.58 -> and so I'm not so sure what will happen
323.88 -> the success of uh
326.58 -> number fifth
328.08 -> of like that Wright brothers moment
329.699 -> where it's a proof of principle we took
331.74 -> the first flight you know that flight
334.199 -> wasn't something that was going to get
336 -> anyone anywhere in terms of actual
338.1 -> transport it was many many years before
340.32 -> we got to full-scale you know commercial
342.72 -> travel by aircraft in the U.S I think
345.479 -> we're in a similar state right now with
347.16 -> Fusion Energy we're probably it's going
349.02 -> to be at least one to two decades before
351.84 -> we would see a commercially viable
353.58 -> Fusion Energy Source but it launched it
357.24 -> launched our understanding it helped us
359.28 -> know that it was possible
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_jcUH2KoOw