January 29 2010

Scientists have overcome a significant hurdle on the road to fusion power, according to a report in the journal Science.

The US National Ignition Facility fired 192 laser beams at a cm sized cylinder of gold housing a tiny pellet of extremely cold hydrogen isotopes.

The energy unleashed surpassed the previous highest energy output from a laser by a factor of 20. As the beams strike the container walls X-rays are emitted which strip material from the outer shell of the pellet, heating it to millions of degrees.

The intention is to achieve “ignition” of this material by compressing it enough to generate a, controlled, thermonuclear explosion. A process which rather than splitting the atoms as in current nuclear technology instead squashes them together, fusion.

Concerns had been raised over the appropriateness of laser technology due to plasma, a roiling soup of charged particles, interfering with the fusion process by inhibiting the targets ability to absorb the lasers energy and funnel it uniformly.

Crucially the team found that the subject continued to absorb around 95% of the laser light and moreover the plasma could actually be harnessed to increase uniformity of compression.

Calculations show that 1.2 megaJoules of energy focussed on the target would be enough to intiate ignition, a figure the team are confident will be attained this year.

Fusion power is the holy grail of those scientists and engineers worldwide pursuing clean energy technology holding promise of unlimited, cheap, carbon free power. It is not likely to achieve large scale commercial production until 2020 at the earliest however.

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