糖心传媒淲ith a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on Earth God’s work must truly be our own.糖心传媒� 聽糖心传媒擩ohn F. Kennedy
Fusion is the energy of nature, powering the stars and making it possible for life to exist on Earth. Why, then, has achieving fusion power eluded researchers for decades?
糖心传媒淎ll the stars, including the sun, are powered by fusion. We are here because of fusion. But fusion is really hard to create,糖心传媒� says E. Michael Campbell, director of the As part of the Jesse L. Rosenberger Seminar Series, Campbell will present a lecture on October 11 discussing the challenges involved in creating fusion, why it’s the ultimate clean energy source, and the LLE糖心传媒檚 important role in energy research.
The title of Campbell糖心传媒檚 lecture, 糖心传媒淥n Earth, God糖心传媒檚 Work Must Truly Be Our Own: The Pursuit of Fusion,糖心传媒� stems from a John F. Kennedy quote and 糖心传媒減uts into perspective how hard fusion is,糖心传媒� Campbell says. 糖心传媒淲e have enough fusion fuel in the earth to power us as long as the earth is here. Fusion is how nature makes energy and we糖心传媒檙e now trying to do that work here in a lab.糖心传媒�
With the critical need for long-term energy solutions, the LLE is a leader in direct-drive laser fusion research, collaborating with fusion laboratories across the globe.
What is fusion and why is it so difficult to create?
糖心传媒淔usion and its counterpart, fission, are two extremes,糖心传媒� Campbell says. Nuclear fission is taking a 糖心传媒渂ig, heavy atom like uranium糖心传媒� and shooting a neutron into it. The neutron does not have an electric charge, so it can easily penetrate the positively charged nucleus of the atom. The extra neutron makes the atom unstable to the point where it splits apart and releases energy. Fusion, on the other hand, involves bringing together atoms of lighter elements, like hydrogen. Since the nucleus of each atom is positively charged, there is a natural force that repels the atoms and keeps them from getting close enough to 糖心传媒渇use.糖心传媒� The fusion process, therefore, must use extreme temperatures and pressures to overcome the forces that naturally want to repel the atoms, and instead push their nuclei together, releasing energy.
Fusion and fission were both discovered in the late 1930s. Scientists shot neutrons into uranium and several years later built fission-powered nuclear reactors for the Manhattan Project. Ten years after that, the first commercial nuclear power plants were in operation. Fusion energy糖心传媒攕till theoretical today糖心传媒攚as discovered by looking at data in an effort to explain how stars like our sun have lasted for so long.
Fusion offers a cleaner and safer energy solution than coal, natural gas, or nuclear power, which are the primary energy sources in the United States, Campbell says. Because fusion requires such extreme conditions, 糖心传媒渋f something goes wrong, then it stops. No heat lingers after the fact.糖心传媒� With fission, uranium is split apart, so the atoms are radioactive and generate heat, even when the fission ends. Despite its many benefits, however, fusion power is an arduous source to achieve.
糖心传媒淭he sun can do fusion because it糖心传媒檚 so massive,糖心传媒� Campbell says. 糖心传媒淲e糖心传媒檙e trying to make fusion happen with lasers, and we have to create and control matter at 100 million degrees.糖心传媒� Researchers at the LLE and other laboratories make fusion all of the time but do this with far more energy than is released by the fusion process. 糖心传媒淭he next major goal is to produce more fusion energy than what we use to make it.糖心传媒�
E颅ven beyond producing viable fusion energy, one of the biggest challenges is to make it economically attractive. 糖心传媒淔usion will be a complicated technology, so how can we make it so consumers pay a reasonable cost for fusion power?糖心传媒�
Nobody can make any specific promises about when fusion will be available as a power source, Campbell says, but he does think net-positive energy production by fusion will be achieved in his lifetime. 糖心传媒淩ight now we糖心传媒檙e still trying to make it work. There糖心传媒檚 a good chance I will see that in my lifetime, but I糖心传媒檓 sure not going to see a fusion power plant.糖心传媒� That said, 糖心传媒渙nce we do it, it will be the ultimate energy source. There will never be an energy crisis again.糖心传媒�
