Controlled Nuclear Fusion: Scientific Achievement or Power to the Grid? - RESCHEDULED

On Dec 13, 2022, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Accelerator Laboratory achieved Ignition. 2.05MJoule produced by 192 lasers were converted into 3.15Mjoule of fusion power. The first time on earth, controlled nuclear fusion produced a net positive power reaction. This is a major scientific milestone that took decades to plan, build and deliver. A boost in private and public funding already preceded this event, but this major success boosted the enthusiasm even further. As of today, about 40 privately funded start-ups around the world are in place and race to deliver nuclear fusion anywhere from a few years from now to within the next two decades or so. In parallel the largest science experiment, the tokamak based Fusion reactor is under construction by an international collaboration in the south of France (ITER) and presently faces a series of technical set-back. Between the sprawling enthusiasm in the private sector and ITER’s and NIF’s status today, a lot of scientific and technical questions still have to be resolved, some specific to laser driven inertial confinement fusion, others specific to magnetic confinement fusion, but also many in common. The challenge to deliver a First Fusion Power Plant (FPP) within a decade is now out there. Like the word “Power Plant” indicates, it is supposed to deliver net electrical power to the grid. Apart from controlling the fusion process itself, this provides an additional layer of engineering challenges that have to be solved in parallel in order to meet the decadal timeline. Some of the major impediments that have to be overcome towards net power production will be discussed.

Speaker: Norbert Holtkamp, Stanford University

Attend in person or online via Zoom.

This event was rescheduled for March 4, 2024