Can laser-based nuclear fusion be a practical means to produce energy?

Why does this technical journal ask the general population such questions when most respondents (including myself) have no expertise in the subject area?

Why not focus on more value-oriented questions suitable for the audience such as, how do you think commercialized fusion power might affect our society?

Poll results telling me how many respondents (outside of the field) say fusion power *can* be feasible or not adds no value. Starting a conversation about the benefits is more useful and thought-provoking.

A deuterium tritium fusion reaction yields Helium-4, a neutron, and 17.59 MeV of energy, only a fraction of which would be available for harvesting to produce heat for electrical power production.

The liberated neutron will have the same effect on the structural components as the liberated neutrons from fission reactors. Neutron capture raises the atomic weight of atomic nuclei yielding unstable and radioactive isotopes. Intense and prolonged neutrons bombardment creates dislocations in the materials, leading to embrittlement of metals and other materials.

The structure and components surrounding the reaction chamber will have a limited functional life and disposal would be classed as radioactive waste.

So much for the idea of cheap clean safe limitless energy.

We already have a society powered by a fusion reactor, it’s natural and roughly 9 light minutes away. Even at that distance, we can still suffer from issues of radiation or other phenomena disrupting daily life.

To say there is no radioactive waste is not accurate; there is a neutron being liberated as well as considerable energy. That was one of the main reasons the scientific community was dubious of the cold fusion-on-the-table claims. Those neutrons would fry the unshielded operator or would react with the container to create isotopes of radioactivity that would need to be dealt with.
Cheap energy? Not yet.

The containment problem has experimentally been solved at the Princeton Tokamak facility over a decade ago (November, 1994), where deuterium tritium plasmas of over 5 million degrees were safely contained, and over ten megawatts of safe fusion-generated power was produced.
I have been a proponent of fusion energy since 1974 when our little hydrocarbon empire was first threatened. We should have instituted a Manhatten-type project to solve the engineering problems associated with clean nukes then, and we would be virtually carbon free today. Fear, superstition and petro-politics has largely kept us from further exploring this potentially clean limitless source of energy.

Nuclear fusion is the ultimate energy source of the known universe. On the path to obtaining sustained nuclear fusion reactors, any promising technology must be studied, including laser-based nuclear fusion.

Right on, Steaphany! And while I appreciate Larry’s enthusiasm re Tokamaks, the energy-generation was far-exceeded by the energy-consumption. Until lasers are more efficient, the laser approach will suffer the same problem as magnetohydrodynamic containers. … and high-energy neutrons are high-energy neutrons no matter what their source … with the same resultant impacts.

The most practical route to using earth-bound fusion is in a fission-fusion hybrid reactor [actually clusters of them] using those high-energy neutrons to breed Pu239 from U238, the fission output to provide the magnetohydrodynamic containers, and alphas to breed tritium using a Li moderator … It’s been a while since we investigated the concept, but it had a net postive output measured in the hundreds of MW range …

The LIFE program will take a long time to complete, but it will provide a good system to use our used nuclear fuel to produce efficient energy.

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Laser Fusion power is a long way off if ever. Even if it were practical, it is still not waste free. Fission is already available. A well thought out complete cycle is practical and should be pursued. The US Navy has a start on practical standardized reactors. The same approach is needed for power production located in places where the waste will end up, eliminating the transportation and storage issues.

The laser fusion and also ITER project will fail by many reasons.Just a lot of money spend and time lost.

Lawrence Livermore Laboratory just recently demonstrated their progress with high-power lasers. The technology has two possible applications. One is disabling ICBMs, the other is fusion reaction. Megatons of money has already been spent, and there is one major national security benefit so far. Not to mention the advancement of science and engineering. Also, it’s given jobs to lots of engineers and scientists. Money well spent? I say yes!

Rather interesting. Has few times re-read for this purpose to remember. Thanks for interesting article. Waiting for trackback

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