One Step Closer to Fusion Energy

By Tiffany Trader

August 27, 2013

Fusion science, which seeks to recreate the energy of the stars for use on Earth, has long been the holy grail of energy researchers. The discipline has its skeptics, but officials at Livermore Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) are confident that commercially viable fusion power plants will be possible within the next few decades.

Ever since it was founded in the early 1950s, LLNL has been developing methods to unlock the mystery of fusion power. There are two principle techniques: magnetic fusion and inertial confinement fusion (ICF). When the laser was invented in 1960, Livermore scientists glommed onto the idea of using convergent beams of light to ignite a fusion micro-explosion. Researchers at Lawrence Livermore’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) continue to pursue the goal of achieving controlled thermonuclear burn in the laboratory using laser light.

On Aug. 13, 2013, all 192 of the ultra-powerful laser beams at NIF converged on a tiny deuterium-tritium filled capsule. In a matter of nanoseconds, the capsule imploded and released a neutron yield of nearly 3×10^15, or approximately 8,000 joules of neutron energy. It was a record-setting yield, three times higher than previous efforts.

According to an official lab announcement, “this newest accomplishment provides an important benchmark for the program’s computer simulation tools, and represents a step along the ‘path forward’ for ignition delivered by the NNSA to Congress in December 2012.”

The lab’s computers have just begun to analyze the results, but initial calculations are promising. LLNL reported that “fusion reactions in the hot plasma started to self-heat the burning core and enhanced the yield by nearly 50 percent, pushing close to the margins of alpha burn, where the fusion reactions dominate the process.”

Ed Moses, principle associate director for NIF and Photon Science refers to the experiment as an “important advance in establishing a self-sustaining burning target, the next critical step on the path to fusion ignition on NIF.”

NIF experiments are orchestrated by a sophisticated computer system located in the facility’s control room. The machine has 950 front-end processors linked to 60,000 control points, including mirrors, lenses, motors, sensors, cameras, amplifiers, capacitors and diagnostic instruments.

The US continues to invest in fusion science because of its long-term potential as a safe, virtually-unlimited environmentally-benign energy source. Experiments have resulted in short-lived self-sustaining burns, but the energy input was greater than the energy output. To be viable, fusion energy needs to produce an energy surplus that can generate a continuous stream of electricity.

Besides its significance to fusion science, the recent experiment also supports NIF’s mission to ensure the nation’s security without nuclear weapons testing. These controlled micro-explosions add to the evidence that the stockpile can be kept secure and safe without a return to live nuclear testing.

Related Articles

Sequoia Goes Core-AZY 

NERSC Managers Shed Light on ‘Edison’ 

Finnish Researchers Welcome New Cray Super 

Simulations Uncover Obstacle to Harnessing Laser-Driven Fusion 

Subscribe to HPCwire's Weekly Update!

Be the most informed person in the room! Stay ahead of the tech trends with industy updates delivered to you every week!

Congressional Hearing on U.S. National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Set for this Week

June 5, 2023

On Wednesday of this week the House Science Committee will hold a hearing as part of the reauthorization effort for the U.S. National Quantum Initiative Act passed in 2018. In recent years, the global race to achieve qua Read more…

Researchers Develop Integrated Photonic Platform Based on Thin-Film Lithium Niobate

June 3, 2023

Researchers are leveraging photonics to develop and scale the hardware necessary to tackle the stringent requirements of quantum information technologies. By exploiting the properties of photonics, researchers point to t Read more…

ASC23: Application Results

June 2, 2023

The ASC23 organizers put together a slate of fiendishly difficult applications for the students this year. The apps were a mix of traditional HPC packages, like WRF-Hydro and FVCOM, plus machine learning centric programs Read more…

Q&A with Marco Pistoia, an HPCwire Person to Watch in 2023

June 2, 2023

HPCwire Person to Watch Marco Pistoia wears a lot of hats at JPMorgan Chase & Co.: managing director, distinguished engineer, head of global technology applied research and head of quantum computing. That work with J Read more…

HPC Career Notes: June 2023 Edition

June 1, 2023

In this monthly feature, we’ll keep you up-to-date on the latest career developments for individuals in the high-performance computing community. Whether it’s a promotion, new company hire, or even an accolade, we’ Read more…

AWS Solution Channel

Shutterstock 1493175377

Introducing GPU health checks in AWS ParallelCluster 3.6

GPU failures are relatively rare but when they do occur, they can have severe consequences for HPC and deep learning tasks. For example, they can disrupt long-running simulations and distributed training jobs. Read more…

 

Shutterstock 1415788655

New Thoughts on Leveraging Cloud for Advanced AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming critical to many operations within companies. As the use and sophistication of AI grow, there is a new focus on the infrastructure requirements to produce results fast and efficiently. Read more…

Intersect360: HPC Market ‘Returning to Stable Growth’

June 1, 2023

The folks at Intersect360 Research released their latest report and market update just ahead of ISC 2023, which was held in Hamburg, Germany, last week. The headline: “We’re returning to stable growth,” per Addison Read more…

Intersect360: HPC Market ‘Returning to Stable Growth’

June 1, 2023

The folks at Intersect360 Research released their latest report and market update just ahead of ISC 2023, which was held in Hamburg, Germany, last week. The hea Read more…

Lori Diachin to Lead the Exascale Computing Project as It Nears Final Milestones

May 31, 2023

The end goal is in sight for the multi-institutional Exascale Computing Project (ECP), which launched in 2016 with a mandate from the Department of Energy (DOE) Read more…

At ISC, Sustainable Computing Leaders Discuss HPC’s Energy Crossroads

May 30, 2023

In the wake of SC22 last year, HPCwire wrote that “the conference’s eyes had shifted to carbon emissions and energy intensity” rather than the historical Read more…

Nvidia Announces Four Supercomputers, with Two in Taiwan

May 29, 2023

At the Computex event in Taipei this week, Nvidia announced four new systems equipped with its Grace- and Hopper-generation hardware, including two in Taiwan. T Read more…

Nvidia to Offer a ‘1 Exaflops’ AI Supercomputer with 256 Grace Hopper Superchips

May 28, 2023

We in HPC sometimes roll our eyes at the term “AI supercomputer,” but a new system from Nvidia might live up to the moniker: the DGX GH200 AI supercomputer. Read more…

Closing ISC Keynote by Sterling and Suarez Looks Backward and Forward

May 25, 2023

ISC’s closing keynote this year was given jointly by a pair of distinguished HPC leaders, Thomas Sterling of Indiana University and Estela Suarez of Jülich S Read more…

The Grand Challenge of Simulating Nuclear Fusion: An Overview with UKAEA’s Rob Akers

May 25, 2023

As HPC and AI continue to rapidly advance, the alluring vision of nuclear fusion and its endless zero-carbon, low-radioactivity energy is the sparkle in many a Read more…

MareNostrum 5 Hits Speed Bumps; Iconic Chapel to Host Quantum Systems

May 23, 2023

MareNostrum 5, the next-generation supercomputer at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) and one of EuroHPC’s flagship pre-exascale systems, has had a di Read more…

CORNELL I-WAY DEMONSTRATION PITS PARASITE AGAINST VICTIM

October 6, 1995

Ithaca, NY --Visitors to this year's Supercomputing '95 (SC'95) conference will witness a life-and-death struggle between parasite and victim, using virtual Read more…

SGI POWERS VIRTUAL OPERATING ROOM USED IN SURGEON TRAINING

October 6, 1995

Surgery simulations to date have largely been created through the development of dedicated applications requiring considerable programming and computer graphi Read more…

U.S. Will Relax Export Restrictions on Supercomputers

October 6, 1995

New York, NY -- U.S. President Bill Clinton has announced that he will definitely relax restrictions on exports of high-performance computers, giving a boost Read more…

Dutch HPC Center Will Have 20 GFlop, 76-Node SP2 Online by 1996

October 6, 1995

Amsterdam, the Netherlands -- SARA, (Stichting Academisch Rekencentrum Amsterdam), Academic Computing Services of Amsterdam recently announced that it has pur Read more…

Cray Delivers J916 Compact Supercomputer to Solvay Chemical

October 6, 1995

Eagan, Minn. -- Cray Research Inc. has delivered a Cray J916 low-cost compact supercomputer and Cray's UniChem client/server computational chemistry software Read more…

NEC Laboratory Reviews First Year of Cooperative Projects

October 6, 1995

Sankt Augustin, Germany -- NEC C&C (Computers and Communication) Research Laboratory at the GMD Technopark has wrapped up its first year of operation. Read more…

Sun and Sybase Say SQL Server 11 Benchmarks at 4544.60 tpmC

October 6, 1995

Mountain View, Calif. -- Sun Microsystems, Inc. and Sybase, Inc. recently announced the first benchmark results for SQL Server 11. The result represents a n Read more…

New Study Says Parallel Processing Market Will Reach $14B in 1999

October 6, 1995

Mountain View, Calif. -- A study by the Palo Alto Management Group (PAMG) indicates the market for parallel processing systems will increase at more than 4 Read more…

Leading Solution Providers

Contributors

CORNELL I-WAY DEMONSTRATION PITS PARASITE AGAINST VICTIM

October 6, 1995

Ithaca, NY --Visitors to this year's Supercomputing '95 (SC'95) conference will witness a life-and-death struggle between parasite and victim, using virtual Read more…

SGI POWERS VIRTUAL OPERATING ROOM USED IN SURGEON TRAINING

October 6, 1995

Surgery simulations to date have largely been created through the development of dedicated applications requiring considerable programming and computer graphi Read more…

U.S. Will Relax Export Restrictions on Supercomputers

October 6, 1995

New York, NY -- U.S. President Bill Clinton has announced that he will definitely relax restrictions on exports of high-performance computers, giving a boost Read more…

Dutch HPC Center Will Have 20 GFlop, 76-Node SP2 Online by 1996

October 6, 1995

Amsterdam, the Netherlands -- SARA, (Stichting Academisch Rekencentrum Amsterdam), Academic Computing Services of Amsterdam recently announced that it has pur Read more…

Cray Delivers J916 Compact Supercomputer to Solvay Chemical

October 6, 1995

Eagan, Minn. -- Cray Research Inc. has delivered a Cray J916 low-cost compact supercomputer and Cray's UniChem client/server computational chemistry software Read more…

NEC Laboratory Reviews First Year of Cooperative Projects

October 6, 1995

Sankt Augustin, Germany -- NEC C&C (Computers and Communication) Research Laboratory at the GMD Technopark has wrapped up its first year of operation. Read more…

Sun and Sybase Say SQL Server 11 Benchmarks at 4544.60 tpmC

October 6, 1995

Mountain View, Calif. -- Sun Microsystems, Inc. and Sybase, Inc. recently announced the first benchmark results for SQL Server 11. The result represents a n Read more…

New Study Says Parallel Processing Market Will Reach $14B in 1999

October 6, 1995

Mountain View, Calif. -- A study by the Palo Alto Management Group (PAMG) indicates the market for parallel processing systems will increase at more than 4 Read more…

ISC 2023 Booth Videos

Cornelis Networks @ ISC23
Dell Technologies @ ISC23
Intel @ ISC23
Lenovo @ ISC23
Microsoft @ ISC23
ISC23 Playlist
  • arrow
  • Click Here for More Headlines
  • arrow
HPCwire