ROI: return on investment. An investment in education, preparing our children for 21st Century careers. An investment in fusion energy, harnessing the power of the sun, using Deuterium, plentiful in oceans, producing heat to turn turbines and generate electricity. Most of it is now done with coal. This could change geopolitical concerns, increase energy independence by reducing our carbon footprint.
High-gain nuclear fusion could be achieved in a preheated cylindrical container immersed in strong magnetic fields, according to a series of computer simulations performed at Sandia National Laboratories.The simulations show the release of output energy that was, remarkably, many times greater than the energy fed into the container's liner. The method appears to be 50 times more efficient than using X-rays—a previous favorite at Sandia—to drive implosions of targeted materials to create fusion conditions.
"People didn't think there was a high-gain option for magnetized inertial fusion (MIF) but these numerical simulations show there is," said Sandia researcher Steve Slutz, the paper's lead author. "Now we have to see if nature will let us do it. In principle, we don't know why we can't."
High-gain fusion means getting substantially more energy out of a material than is put into it. Inertial refers to the compression in situ over nanoseconds of a small amount of targeted fuel.
Research & Development: Nuclear fusion simulation shows high-gain energy output
Sandia National Laboratories: Magnetic Field Coil Designs for MagLIF (PDF)
Comments