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Fusion Energy Research at the National Ignition Facility: the Pursuit of the Ultimate Clean, Inexhaustible Energy Source

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Fusion Energy Research at the National Ignition Facility: the Pursuit of the Ultimate Clean, Inexhaustible Energy Source Fusion Energy Research at The National Ignition Facility: The Pursuit of the Ultimate Clean, Inexhaustible Energy Source" John D. Moody, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory" " Presented to: MIT – PSFC IAP 2014" " January 15, 2014" This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 A few memories of MIT physics (1982 – 1988) Fast-wave ICRF antenna John Frank NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 2 World energy" consumption is " projected to double " in about 40 years" " Source: US Energy " Information Agency" OECD = Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development" NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 3 NIF-0412-24385.pptNIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT Moses-IPAM_UCLA_041812 94 NIF-0412-24385.pptNIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT Moses-IPAM_UCLA_041812 175 Fission and Fusion both Release Binding Energy from the Atomic Nucleus Fission neutron Fusion Deuterium Chemical 235U/239Pu D neutron neutron + + O D = helium neutron E = m c2 D2O ~0.1% mass ~0.4% mass converted to converted to 3 eV energy energy NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 6 Coulomb barrier makes high temperatures necessary for DT thermonuclear fusion Fusion Rate vs DT Temperature D α T n D + T → α + n 3.5 MeV 14.1 MeV 11 QFusion = 3.3 ⋅10 J / g NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 7 There are three (and maybe more…) ways to achieve fusion ~3mm Gravitational Magnetic Inertial Confinement Confinement Confinement “Thermo- nuclear” Muon-catalyzed fusion NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 8 Livermore Malibu NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 9 Malibu in the 60s NIF-0412-24385.pptNIF-0709-16940 Moses-IPAM_UCLA_041812Presentation to MIT 1910 Ted Maiman" Demonstrated the first laser" May 16, 1960" Hughes Research Laboratories" Malibu, California" NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 11 " 3 days later at the" Lawrence Radiation Laboratory" In Livermore, California…" " NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 12 " …John Nuckolls " proposed to use lasers" for fusion energy" " NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 13 In 1972, the requirements for laser driven ICF were quantified in a seminal paper" • John Nuckolls, Lowell Wood, Albert Thiessen and George Zimmerman, Nature 239, 139-142 (1972)" • Nuckolls, et. al., showed that ICF fusion with high gain was theoretically possible with laser energies of ~1kJ in a ns-scale pulse" — Experience has shown that the actual energy required will be in excess of 1MJ" • The highest output lasers of the time produced many orders of magnitude less energy than was needed" • Since the 1970s, a series of successively larger lasers has been built at Livermore and elsewhere approaching the 1MJ goal" NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 14 In an ICF reaction, a Deuterium-Tritium (DT) sphere is compressed radially, as if by the Sun’s gravity" Irradiation" Compression" Ignition" Burn" " " " " Radiation heats the" Fuel core is" Fuel core reaches" Fusion process" surface, forming" compressed by the" ~10x the temp. and" propagates " a plasma (ablation)" rocket-like blowoff" density of the sun" through fuel" at the surface" and ignites" yielding many " times the energy" NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 15 Two approaches to ICF trade off efficiency and drive uniformity: Direct Drive and Indirect Drive" Direct drive" capsule" Laser beams impinge directly on capsule" High coupling efficiency ηC ~ 80 % but requires very uniform illumination" laser" Indirect drive" beam" x-rays" Lasers illuminate walls of high-Z enclosure (hohlraum) and produce x- rays that ablate surface" Reduces beam uniformity requirements but also significantly reduces coupling efficiency η ~ 20 %" high-Z" C hohlraum" NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 16 " In the early 1970s, John Emmett at Livermore" recognized that flashlamp pumped," solid-state lasers were capable of scaling to 1MJ" " NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 17 Janus,Janus, 1973, 1973 100J" IR" NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 18 Argus, 1976, 1 kJ IR" NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 19 Nova, 1985, 100 kJ IR, 30kJ UV" NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 20 NIF-0412-24385.pptNIF-0709-16940 Moses-IPAM_UCLA_041812Presentation to MIT 2134 NIF, 2009,NIF, 20091.8 MJ" UV" NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 22 NIF, 2009 4MJ IR 2012-040806s1.pptNIF-0709-16940 Moses - AllPresentation Hands, September to MIT 19, 2012 4023 Target Chamber June 1999 NIF-0412-24385.pptNIF-0709-16940 Moses-IPAM_UCLA_041812Presentation to MIT 4124 Inside the target chamber NIF-0412-24385.pptNIF-0709-16940 Moses-IPAM_UCLA_041812Presentation to MIT 4425 2012-040806s1.pptNIF-0709-16940 MosesPresentation - All Hands, September to MIT 19, 2012 2645 In a typical NIF experiment, the DT fuel capsule will be inside a small container, or hohlraum" ~5mm" ~1cm" NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 27 Ignition requires high convergence spherical compression" DT shot N120716 Bang time 215 µm 2 mm NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 28 Beth holding the target NIF-0412-24385.pptNIF-0709-16940 Moses-IPAM_UCLA_041812Presentation to MIT 2529 Fuel capsule NIF-0412-24385.pptNIF-0709-16940 Moses-IPAM_UCLA_041812Presentation to MIT 2630 On September 29, 2010 NIC conducted the first cryo-layered DT experiment on NIF NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 31 DT ice layer is carefully grown over ~ 24 hours" NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 32 In the target chamber NIF-0412-24385.pptNIF-0709-16940 Moses-IPAM_UCLA_041812Presentation to MIT 4733 NIF irradiates a fusion target with an array of 192 laser beams" NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 34 NIF’s laser beams irradiate the hohlraum (indirect ! drive) to produce x-rays that irradiate the capsule" NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 35 MIT NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 36 The National Ignition Campaign (NIC) is a four-step experimental plan for demonstrating ICF energy gain" Demonstrate Laser Performance" Demonstrate Hohlraum Performance" Demonstrate Capsule Performance" Integrated Test" NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 37 The National Ignition Campaign (NIC) is a four-step experimental plan for demonstrating ICF energy gain" Demonstrate Laser Performance" Demonstrate Hohlraum Performance" Demonstrate Capsule Performance" Integrated Test" NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 38 1.8 MJ NIC ignition point design, energy, power, pulse shape & beam smoothing achieved simultaneously (single beam) NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 39 The NIF laser has steadily increased the laser power and energy available for ignition experiments Shaped pulses up to 1.9 MJ, 520 TW delivered to cryogenic implosion targets 2012 500 2011 400 2010 300 2009 200 3w Power at Target (TW) 100 0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 3w Energy at Target (MJ) NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 40 520 TW is ~ the power the sun delivers to New England + New York + New Jersey Sun Earth 1.44 kW / m2 Sun’s power at earth’s surface New England + New York + 514 TW New Jersey NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 41 The National Ignition Campaign (NIC) is a four-step experimental plan for demonstrating ICF energy gain" Demonstrate Laser Performance" Demonstrate Hohlraum Performance" Demonstrate Capsule Performance" Integrated Test" NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 42 Ignition hohlraum simulation: from start to finish" NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 43 Early time x-rays, cross-beam energy transfer (CBET) and hot e- can cause symmetry swings and preheat – limiting convergence Cross-beam energy transfer Hot electron preheat 12 x-rays 12 10 8 10 6 8 x 12 4 6 x 10 2 4 8 0 Mitigations: low-power to blow- 2 6 3 -2 -2 x 0 2 4 1 -1 2 -2 0 down window; power adjustment 0 1 2 3 -2 -1 0 y y 1 0 y -1 -2 2 -2 3 on inner / outer beam cones NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 44 Late-time backscatter and hot e- can affect symmetry, convergence, and capsule speed Cross-beam energy transfer SBS- outers SRS and SBS- inners X-rays Hot electron preheat How can we make the inner beams propagate better? NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 45 Efficiency, symmetry, and hot-electron preheat are three areas of hohlraum performance we are working on Efficiency Backscatter Hohlraum ~ 15% x-rays Laser Capsule R(t) 15-25% Implosion degraded simulations flux after match data using backscatter degraded drive Full flux simulation How do we recover 30-40% missing laser power? NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 46 Efficiency, symmetry, and hot-electron preheat are three areas of hohlraum performance we are working on Efficiency Symmetry, and hot-electrons Backscatter Hohlraum Oblate Prolate ~ 15% x-rays Stagnation Laser How can we control the time- dependent symmetry? Capsule R(t) 15-25% Implosion degraded simulations flux after match data using backscatter degraded drive Full flux simulation How do we recover 30-40% missing laser power? NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 47 Efficiency, symmetry, and hot-electron preheat are three areas of hohlraum performance we are working on Efficiency Symmetry, and hot-electrons Backscatter Hohlraum Oblate Prolate ~ 15% x-rays Stagnation Laser How can we control the time- dependent symmetry? ≥ 1.8 keV Capsule R(t) X-rays 15-25% Implosion degraded simulations flux after match data using backscatter degraded drive Full flux simulation Hot electron How do we preheat recover 30-40% missing laser power? How can we observe pre-heat – and mitigate it? NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 48 Current hohlraum experiments are exploring a broad range of parameters Effective laser-power Low-foot 1 0.8 CH 0.6 0 Hohlraum gas-fill 0.8 mg/cc 1.6 mg/cc Low-foot NIF-0709-16940 Presentation to MIT 49 Current hohlraum experiments
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