The Dec. 5 experimental result at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) raises the issue of the fourth of Lyndon LaRouche’s Four Laws, and his Fusion Energy Foundation (FEF)’s approach to the most important scientific frontiers.
The result reported in an Energy Department/National Nuclear Security Agency press conference Dec. 13, followed by a technical panel of NIF team leaders, was an ignited plasma fuel with an output power gain of 50% over the input laser power—not 20% as had been reported in media leaks Dec. 12. This was a very large improvement over the August 2021 shot, which was a huge (25x) improvement over any previous experiments there. Moreover, Dec. 5 was the first net gain in the worldwide history of fusion power R&D.
The energetics of the experiment—which also make clear fusion energy will not be commercialized with this kind of set-up—were given as: “wall outlet power” for the laser array, 300 megajoules; laser input power delivered to the target fuel, 2.05 megajoules; output from ignited fuel, 3.15 megajoules. All in part of a nanosecond. (Note extremely low 0.6% power efficiency of the laser array.)
The key innovation which has probably advanced the NIF experiments of the past two years more than any other—namely, the use of an electric coil to surround the laser-imploded fuel pellet with a strong magnetic field as it explodes—was never mentioned by any director or team leader in the 75-minute presentation of the results. This, despite a Physical Review Letters article on just that subject published Nov. 4, 2022. The lead author and the innovation’s originator, John Moody, wrote, “The application of an external 26 Tesla axial magnetic field to a D2 gas-filled capsule indirectly driven on the National Ignition Facility is observed to increase the ion temperature by 40% and the neutron yield by a factor of 3.2 in a hot spot with areal density and temperature approaching what is required for fusion ignition.” This was written before the Dec. 5 experiment’s much better result. (https://www.osti.gov/pages/biblio/1901997)
