TechPulse 360

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is predicting a major breakthrough in the long intractable science of nuclear fusion, claiming it will ignite a fusion reaction in two years.

"We're starting to feel like we're getting some traction," says Lawrence Livermore scientist Tom Anklam of the lab's fusion researcb.

Scientist Tom Anklam during a Thursday evening address said the lab’s National Ignition Facility intends to create a “quasi continuous reaction” in 2012 using the world’s largest laser, installed at the California facility about a year ago.

Success could lead to 1000 MW power plant prototype in eight to 10 years, he told a small gathering at the Palo Alto Research Center in Silicon Valley.

The prospect of a hybrid fusion-fission plant – where atoms are joined together to release enormous amounts of energy and plutonium is consumed – is the stuff of science fiction. If shown to work, the procedure could generate between a third and two-thirds of the nation’s electricity by 2100.

It is estimated the country has enough nuclear waste to fuel the plants for several hundred years.

“Ignition,” as scientists refer to the reaction, was initially expected in 2011. But delays in the construction of the Laser Inertial Fusion Engine, where the laser is housed, pushed back the date.

Nevertheless, Anklam said researchers are more optimistic today about their work. “We’re starting to feel like we’re getting some traction,” he said. It also looks like the process is economically viable, he added, suggesting that as a result fusion could be a significant contributor to the country’s power profile by mid century.

The project was funded by the Department of Energy more than seven years ago as a way to harness nuclear power in a safer, more environmentally sound manner than the present generation of light-water, uranium fired plants. It also was seen as a way to dispose of the nuclear waste accumulating from the military and civilian use of uranium and plutonium.

Today, with global warming a growing concern, it has the added benefit of being carbon free.

But it won’t be cheap. The government spends several hundred million dollars on the research today and financial demands will climb into the billions of dollars in years to come.

Part of the project’s cost is the laser, which harnesses 192 beams to focus 500 terawatts of power – more than the output of all the nation’s power plants – on a space the size of a BB.

Anklam expects the cost of fusion power plants will ultimately be similar to those of today’s nuclear plants. If they improve America’s competitiveness by supplying a near endless source of energy, they could be worth the price.