(AGENPARL) - Roma, 19 Luglio 2024(AGENPARL) – ven 19 luglio 2024 A weekly compendium of media reports on science and technology achievements
at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Though the Laboratory reviews
items for overall accuracy, the reporting organizations are responsible for
the content in the links below.
….. LLNL Report, July 19, 2024
Concept art showing an IFE power plant of the future. (Image: Eric
Smith/LLNL)
… Fire it up
https://www.ans.org/news/article-6139/the-fire-that-powers-the-universe-harnessing-inertial-fusion-energy/
It was a laser shot for the ages. By achieving fusion ignition on Dec. 5,
2022, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory proved that recreating the
“fire” that fuels the sun and the stars inside a laboratory on Earth was
indeed scientifically possible.
The historic achievement of scientific breakeven — or target gain — at
LLNL’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) gave scientists access to new
regimes of high-energy-density (HED) science to probe the extreme
conditions found at the center of nuclear explosions. The accomplishment
strengthened NIF’s primary mission: to support the National Nuclear
Security Administration’s science-based Stockpile Stewardship Program to
help certify the safety, security and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear
deterrent.
“The physics understanding we gain from NIF on how materials behave at
extreme pressures and temperatures, how radiation is transported in complex
geometries and how thermonuclear fusion ignition happens is crucial to
ensuring that our nation’s nuclear stockpile stays safe, secure and
reliable in the absence of underground testing,” said Mark Herrmann,
associate director within LLNL’s Strategic Deterrence Directorate. “NIF
is an essential tool in sustaining our deterrent. The scientific data
produced by NIF experiments also supports HED science and discovery science,
expanding our understanding of the physics of celestial bodies and
applications such as material science, advanced lasers and photonics and
additive manufacturing.”
While NIF itself was not designed to become a fusion power plant that can
deliver electricity to the grid, the achievement of ignition cemented
LLNL’s position as a center of science and technology research directly
relevant to inertial fusion energy (IFE) while sharpening the scientific
community’s focus on developing this potentially clean, safe, enduring
source of electricity for the world.
Read More
https://www.ans.org/news/article-6139/the-fire-that-powers-the-universe-harnessing-inertial-fusion-energy/
Lawrence Livermore engineers Brian Wihl and Jacob Trueblood use their laptop
computers to pilot drones under the netting of the OS-150 Robotics
Laboratory. (Photo: LLNL)
… Protecting soldiers with drones
New Technology Protects Soldiers
In the face of the many dangers, U.S. Army technology has adapted to protect
leaders and soldiers on the modern battlefield while propelling the Army into
2030.
LLNL partnered with the U.S. Army on the “Ground Penetrating Radar
Drone,” which underwent testing at the Sandhills Project 3.0, which offers
field demonstrations to military personnel, carried out by civilian
mechanical engineering companies..
James Reimer, a mechanical engineer with Lawrence Livermore, was one of the
demonstrators at the Sandhills Project 3.0..
“With the ability to fly these drones remotely, we remove the warfighter
from the threats and danger in the field,” Reimer said “We eliminate the
command loop for danger while detecting hazardous explosives much faster
remotely than the current technology out there today.”
With the ability to fly drones from a distance, soldiers are more protected
from enemy obstacles in the field. By doing this, combat engineers can
quickly find dangerous explosives from afar, without putting anyone in
harm’s way.
Read More https://www.militaryspot.com/news/new-technology-protects-soldiers
LLNL scientists have collaborated with Zap Energy in Everett, Washington, to
measured plasma conditions on Z-pinch fusion experiments on the
private-sector fusion company’s Fusion Z-pinch Experiment (FuZE) device.
(Photo courtesy of Zap Energy)
… Pinch me, it’s fusion
https://phys.org/news/2024-07-advancements-fusion-insights-plasma-pressure.html
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore have reported advancements in understanding
plasma pressure profiles within flow-stabilized Z-pinch fusion, a candidate
for achieving net gain fusion energy in a compact device.
In collaboration with the University of California, San Diego, the University
of Washington, Sandia National Laboratories and private-sector fusion company
Zap Energy, researchers utilized advanced Thomson scattering diagnostics to
measure elevated electron temperatures and densities within Zap Energy’s
Fusion Z-pinch Experiment (FuZE), based in Everett, Washington.
The team’s latest findings reveal insights into plasma conditions that
coincide with fusion neutron production.
Read More
https://phys.org/news/2024-07-advancements-fusion-insights-plasma-pressure.html
Machine learning potential derived from first-principles calculations reveals
that confinement in TiO2 nanopores enhances proton transfer by reducing
activation energy. (Illustration concept: Hyuna Kwon and Tuan Anh Pham/LLNL;
Illustration: Ella Maru Studios)
… Nano-confinement is where it’s at
https://www.technologynetworks.com/tn/news/nano-confinement-may-be-key-to-improving-hydrogen-production-388737
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore have discovered a new mechanism that can
boost the efficiency of hydrogen production through water splitting.
This research, published in /ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces,/ was
featured on the journal cover and provides new insights into the behavior of
water reactivity and proton transfer under extreme confinement, suggesting
potential strategies to enhance the performance of electrocatalysts for
hydrogen production, while protecting the catalyst from degradation.
Hydrogen production via photoelectrochemical water splitting has long been
considered a “Holy Grail” of electrochemistry. A key for the widespread
deployment of this technology is the development of an active, durable, yet
affordable electrocatalytic system.
Together with Columbia University and the University of California, Irvine,
LLNL scientists have developed a new strategy to improve the balance between
activity and durability of electrocatalysts by encapsulating the catalyst
with ultrathin and porous titanium dioxide layers.
Read More
https://www.technologynetworks.com/tn/news/nano-confinement-may-be-key-to-improving-hydrogen-production-388737
LLNL scientist Erika Fong demonstrates the Computed Axial Lithography (CAL)
3D printing process, an example of work being done at the Advanced
Manufacturing Lab in the Livermore Valley Open Campus. (Photo: LLNL)
… Hitting its stride
Increasing national security requirements and a significant change in the
workforce demanded that Lawrence Livermore and Sandia national laboratories
shift the way they do business after more than 50 years.
Both labs traditionally had recruited from top universities’ graduate
programs and once people joined, they spent their career on the East Avenue
facilities in Livermore. For some, they found the work so interesting that
after they retired, they volunteered to continue their research.
By the 2000s, that had shifted and the best and brightest were seeking
opportunities in private industry as well as the national labs. That led to
the realization that collaboration between the labs, industry and academia
was going to be required. Lawrence Livermore Director Kim Budil expects
one-third of her workforce to be new within five years, while Sandia’s
Stephanie Beasly said she almost feels like an old-timer having worked there
for 12 years.
Thus, the Livermore Valley Open Campus came into being. The labs sought U.S.
Department of Energy approval in 2009 that was granted in 2010 with the first
initiative being the High Performance Computing Innovation Center.
Lawrence Livermore has operated some of the world’s most powerful computers
for decades because they are critical to the modeling necessary to maintain
the nuclear stockpile. That modeling capability can be used for other
purposes such as Cardoid, developed with IBM, which replicates the electrical
system of the human heart, allowing diagnosis and treatment of arrhythmias.
Read More
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provides solutions to our nation’s most important national security
challenges through innovative science, engineering and technology.. Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory is managed by Lawrence Livermore National
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Administration.
Read previous Lab Report articles online https://www.llnl.gov/news/lab-report
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