Scientists Achieve Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough

어제(12/12/202) 아침 뉴욕타임즈에서 놀라운 기사 표제를

읽었다. 핵융합 발전 연구의 역사적인 성취 -- Inertial

Confinement Fusion (ICF) 실험의 첫 성공(들어간 에너지의

1.5배 에너지 생산) -- 에 대한 오늘 아침의 공식 발표를 예고한

것이었다. 그 발표를 들었다. 오래전 한동안 대학 ICF 연구

프로젝트의 연구 조교였던 내겐 감회가 새롭다.

 

Scientists Achieve Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough

The advancement by Lawrence Livermore National Laborator

researchers will be built on to further develop fusion energy

research.

 

By Kenneth Chang

Dec. 13, 2022, The New York Times

 

 

아래는 위 기사에서:

 

"[O]n the morning of Dec. 5 ...192 giant lasers at the laboratory’s

National Ignition Facility blasted a small cylinder about the size

of a pencil eraser that contained a frozen nubbin of hydrogen

encased in diamond.

 

The laser beams entered at the top and bottom of the cylinder,

vaporizing it. That generated an inward onslaught of X-rays that

compresses a BB-size fuel pellet of deuterium and tritium, th

heavier forms of hydrogen.

 

In a brief moment lasting less than 100 trillionths of a second,

2.0 megajoules of energy — roughly the equivalent of a pound

of TNT — bombarded the hydrogen pellet. Out flowed a floo

of neutron particles — the product of fusion — which carrie

the energ equivalent of about 1.5 pounds of TNT, or an energy

gain of about 1.5."

 

 

 

The interior of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's laser-based inertial confinement fusion research facility in 2012. (AFP/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) (Handout/AFP/Getty Images)