(AGENPARL) – ven 17 gennaio 2025 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, Jan. 17, 2025
On Dec. 5, 2022, scientists at Lawrence Livermore’s National Ignition
Facility reached a groundbreaking milestone in fusion research when they
achieved ignition.
… NIF and El Capitan: a dynamic duo
https://www.ciphernews.com/articles/the-worlds-fastest-supercomputer-is-accelerating-efforts-to-bring-star-power-to-earth/
It makes sense that a technical achievement straight out of science fiction
took place in a facility so futuristic that it was once used as a backdrop in
a Star Trek movie.
But in this Hollywood-worthy chamber at Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory outside San Francisco, researchers not only turned a one-time
technological fantasy into reality, they also helped accelerate a full-on
race to scale and monetize what some have dubbed the “holy grail” of
clean energy: fusion.
As huge as the lab’s accomplishment of ignition was, however, it was just
the beginning of a new set of challenges. The researchers turned their focus
to replicating the achievement and getting ever more energy out of the fusion
reaction. To help with those efforts, they now have the benefit of another
technological marvel: the world’s fastest supercomputer just a stone’s
throw away..
Read More
https://www.ciphernews.com/articles/the-worlds-fastest-supercomputer-is-accelerating-efforts-to-bring-star-power-to-earth/
The community gift program serves children in the Tri-Valley area as well as
Contra Costa, Santa Clara and San Joaquin counties and reflects LLNS’s
commitment to local communities. (Photo credit: Garry McLeod)
… LLNS gives back
https://www.independentnews.com/community/livermore-lab-manager-announces-community-grants/article_1999f65e-ce10-11ef-81da-938723cf74d1.html
Lawrence Livermore National Security, which manages the Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory, has awarded $220,000 in grants to 44 community
organizations.
The Community Gift Program was launched in 2008 and benefits nonprofits that
serve children in Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara and San Joaquin
counties.
Grants focus on efforts to promote literacy, science, technology, engineering
and math education, and cultural arts. They averaged $5,000 each.
Read More
https://www.independentnews.com/community/livermore-lab-manager-announces-community-grants/article_1999f65e-ce10-11ef-81da-938723cf74d1.html
Rare earths bearing core sample drilled at La Paz, Arizona. (Photo
credit: American Rare Earths Ltd/ photographer Dane Rhys
… Critical tech for critical minerals
https://apnews.com/press-release/business-wire/lawrence-livermore-colorado-north-america-boulder-electric-vehicles-f31718b0ebd146c7a019ac01fef3934f
Alta Resource Technologies uses custom-designed proteins that act like
microscopic robots to separate high-purity rare earth elements and other
critical minerals with unprecedented selectivity and cost-effectiveness. This
could dramatically reduce the environmental footprint of mining while
expanding access to essential raw materials.
The advanced biochemistry platform leverages technology licensed from
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory co-developed with collaborators
including researchers at Pennsylvania State University. Alta aims to increase
supplies of rare earth elements like neodymium and dysprosium – essential
for electric vehicle motors, wind turbines, and defense technologies – by
cost-effectively separating them from abundant low-grade sources and
end-of-life products that cannot be processed using conventional methods.
Read More
https://apnews.com/press-release/business-wire/lawrence-livermore-colorado-north-america-boulder-electric-vehicles-f31718b0ebd146c7a019ac01fef3934f
El Capitan is capable of peak performance of 2.79 exaflops, or 2.79
quintillion calculations per second.
… El Capitan makes its debut
https://www.axios.com/2025/01/10/lawrence-livermore-lab-supercomputer
The world’s most powerful supercomputer was officially dedicated in
California Thursday, with the CEOs of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and AMD on
hand to celebrate their handiwork.
El Capitan — as the $600 million supercomputer is known — will handle an
array of classified tasks aimed at securing the U.S. stockpile of nuclear
weapons and run a variety of other unspecified simulations.
El Capitan and a smaller sibling designed for unclassified work sit inside a
large data center inside Lawrence Livermore National Labs, roughly 30 miles
northeast of Silicon Valley. That smaller sibling, Tuolumne, is similar in
design to El Capitan, but just one-tenth the size. It’s still powerful enough
to rank 10th among the world’s most powerful supercomputers.
Read More
https://www.axios.com/2025/01/10/lawrence-livermore-lab-supercomputer
Scheme of the electro-geochemical cell powered by renewable electricity for
converting waste into cement. (Image credit: Lu et al., 2024)
… Cement sans carbon
After the energy sector, cement production is the second largest industrial
contributor of global greenhouse gas emissions, mainly due to limestone
calcination – a process that releases large amounts of carbon dioxide.
Now, a collaboration between scientists at Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory (LLNL) and Northwestern University has put forward a method they
say is capable of achieving gigaton-scale carbon reductions. Their approach
accelerates the weathering of calcium silicates sourced from basalt, recycled
concrete and industrial waste, then uses carbon dioxide to produce calcium
carbonate, eliminating the need for limestone decomposition.
Read More
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Founded in 1952, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory https://www.llnl.gov
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
Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security
Administration.
Read previous Lab Report articles online https://www.llnl.gov/news/lab-report
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