New $150M facility will fire 7-petawatt lasers to (hopefully) achieve nuclear fusion

[zohaibahd]

Forward-looking: Fusion energy is often regarded as the holy grail of power generation because it harnesses the same atomic process that powers the sun. The concept involves forcing atomic nuclei to fuse together, unleashing immense energy. If scientists can crack the code using lasers, it could lead to a virtually limitless supply of safe, sustainable energy without any carbon emissions.

This month, construction crews are breaking ground on an ambitious new laser research facility at Colorado State University, which aims to be a nexus for developing laser-driven nuclear fusion as a viable clean energy source. The facility will cost a whopping $150 million and is expected to open in 2026.

The Advanced Technology Lasers for Applications and Science (ATLAS) Facility is the product of over 40 years of laser research at CSU, partly funded by the Department of Energy, which has invested $28 million. The lab's development also stems from a strategic partnership with the private sector – Marvel Fusion, a German startup, is contributing major funding and providing two cutting-edge lasers.

Upon completion, the facility will combine these Marvel lasers with an upgraded version of an existing ultra-intense laser developed at CSU. Together, the three laser systems will be able to simultaneously unleash nearly 7 petawatts of power – more than 5,000 times the total electrical generation capacity of the United States – in pulses lasting just 100 quadrillionths of a second. That's an immense amount of energy concentrated into an area about the width of a human hair.

With this kind of focused energy, one of the main goals is to advance laser-driven nuclear fusion as a future clean energy source.

The facility will support other interdisciplinary research, too. The medical field is cited as one area that could benefit, with similar laser technology being used for tumor treatments by concentrating the energy in precise tiny areas. Another potential application is ultra-high-resolution imaging, such as capturing incredibly detailed X-rays of turbine engines.

"As a top institution recognized both for research and for sustainability, CSU is a fitting home for this facility," said university president Amy Parsons at the ceremony. "We have been a leader in laser research for decades, and our faculty are advancing critical technologies. This new facility will house one of the most powerful lasers in the world and establishes CSU as a nexus for laser fusion research."

The new ATLAS building will be part of CSU's larger Advanced Laser for Extreme Photonics (ALEPH) Center. It's an ambitious venture that could pay huge dividends if its potential can be effectively harnessed.

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New $150M facility will fire 7-petawatt lasers to (hopefully) achieve nuclear fusion

 

[Kirby1]

Neat, but only 150m? These types of projects are severely underfunded.

 

[VitalyT]

If scientists can crack the code using lasers

...without cracking earth in two, preferably.

We have been investing in all the wrong technology, IMO. 25 bln invested into the large carbon collider, and less than 10% of that into fusion reactors. Should have been the other way round, given the value of the return.

 

[Manoa]

Thare is no yet a evidence of a return, all fusion projects right now are experimental, just like LHC
I don't know all of them, but I know that tokamak models use tritium and this has low supply, so even if this reactors eventually do work, they will be using something that is hard to replace, which is why other fusion projects like helion came up with deuterium fusion, but this type of fusion requires passive "melting" if you will to make it work (you need to wait 10 years for the energy to be available to use) and this laser project, well I don't know how it works unlike the other 2 but im sure it has it own problems

 

[kiwigraeme]

Neat, but only 150m? These types of projects are severely underfunded.

In this game 150m is really tiny, may be more proof of concept

 

[DanteSmith]

Waste of money.

 

[SRB]

LOL, yet another "right around the corner" I actually know something about this, and wrote a high school paper on the promise of lasers for all sorts of things. I enjoy reading about new advancements in energy, except when presented as "the next big thing" that's "right around the corner"

Shiva went online around 1977, Nova followed in the 90's and neither one achieved ignition. 2000's started the Nation Ignition Facility which achieved ignition sometime around 2020 and breakeven ignition (same energy out as went in) in 2022.

While we need to pursue all avenues for new energy. I'm glad they're still working on this project, and like many things, including batteries, can't wait for the breakthrough that will improve our ability to produce and store energy. However, this is another 'old" technology with some promise, but hardly the solution to the world's energy at this point.

 

[Squid Surprise]

The most important “laser field” is the field of overly elaborate supervillain torture… can we affix these to the heads of sharks?

 

[Megalomaniac]

When you understand how real fusion works, you understand why we can't do it. You can't get more energy than you put in and there's always energy loss when you change energy forms. Those are fundamental laws.

The SUN's gravity alone compresses Hydrogen into fusion to become larger elements like Helium while releasing energy. Gravity itself is basically creating "free energy", but even the sun doesn't last forever.

 

[acoustis]

When you understand how real fusion works, you understand why we can't do it. You can't get more energy than you put in and there's always energy loss when you change energy forms. Those are fundamental laws.

The SUN's gravity alone compresses Hydrogen into fusion to become larger elements like Helium while releasing energy. Gravity itself is basically creating "free energy", but even the sun doesn't last forever.

I’m no scientist but this is spot on. Gravity of an object does this merging of nuclei and as long as we don’t have a switch to up the gravity to 270 m/s2 in a reactor (that is without derailing or tearing the planet apart), we can not hope for fusion energy to be useful.

 

[dipankar]

Severe underfunding and the loss of resources are evident. Multiple countries are investing in their own nuclear fusion research, leading to a significant drain on financial resources. Nuclear fusion is an incredibly complex and challenging technology. Instead of each country conducting individual research, it would be more beneficial for all countries to collaborate and fund research together, as demonstrated by the ITER project. When individual countries pursue nuclear fusion research independently, it results in a loss of resources.

 

[FaTaL]

It'll never happen. just like a one-all cure for cancer will never happen.. why? because the money is in the research.....

 

[WhiteLeaff]

When you understand how real fusion works, you understand why we can't do it. You can't get more energy than you put in and there's always energy loss when you change energy forms. Those are fundamental laws.

The SUN's gravity alone compresses Hydrogen into fusion to become larger elements like Helium while releasing energy. Gravity itself is basically creating "free energy", but even the sun doesn't last forever.

Glad to see someone understanding the obvious. But as always... A lot of parasites are going to get rich off the money of governments and investors.

 

[Steveb8189]

What we really need is some sort of nuclear fusion reactor out in space producing massive amounts of safe energy and a way to catch it as it sends it back to earth.

 

[WhoCaresAnymore]

Nuclear power. This is the way.

 

[OortCloud]

As usual the comments section is littered with the usual noisy conspiracy theorists and pretend experts that seem to litter Techspot these days all telling us fusion can't work because their 3rd grade physics teacher told them energy can't be created.

Experiments have already extracted more energy than they put in - such as the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory reactor - it's on tiny scales at the moment and completely impractical for normal use, but you have to start somewhere when proving theoretical concepts and this start has now been made.

The fusion doesn't 'make more energy than it provides' but the act of fusion releases energy already present in the atoms. I'm sure the window lickers will respond to this with another bout of utter horsesh1t and 'scientific articles' they found links to on Facebook, Tiktok and Truth Central so knock yourselves out.

 

[Art C]

...without cracking earth in two, preferably.

Honestly, the end of the world would be a very small price to pay, to finally be rid of Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple.

 

[Che Cazzo]

As usual the comments section is littered with the usual noisy conspiracy theorists and pretend experts that seem to litter Techspot these days all telling us fusion can't work because their 3rd grade physics teacher told them energy can't be created.

Experiments have already extracted more energy than they put in - such as the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory reactor - it's on tiny scales at the moment and completely impractical for normal use, but you have to start somewhere when proving theoretical concepts and this start has now been made.

The fusion doesn't 'make more energy than it provides' but the act of fusion releases energy already present in the atoms. I'm sure the window lickers will respond to this with another bout of utter horsesh1t and 'scientific articles' they found links to on Facebook, Tiktok and Truth Central so knock yourselves out.

Exactly that!!

And furthermore, Fox Noise, the highest authority in the US, told them it can't be done!!

 

[wiyosaya]

If I am not mistaken, this project will build and use two lasers in its research, with each laser producing the same amount of power that the single laser at the US NIF produces.

Just in case some of you do not know why the NIF is significant, its because it achieved both fusion and energy gain with just one laser producing this amount of power. Two important steps in developing Fusion as an energy source.

https://physicsworld.com/a/national...trates-net-fusion-energy-gain-in-world-first/

 

[Malthus]

For most of my lfe I have seen media reports of fusion, how 'we' are nearly there, how it will herald free energy, how there's a major breakthrough, 'almost' about to break. PR for fusion is top drawer, they get the billions of funding from public funds to carry on playing with their toys, and then every now and then issue fictional stories about how it is going to revolutionise energy blah blah blah. And sometimes they claim to have generated energy, which turns out to be a micro-watt generated for several million megawatts of input, which seems further away from free energy as is possible.

Meanwhile renewables have been supplying free energy from sun and wind for decades, and that tech is developing constantly, with new storage ideas as well as new materials with improved efficiency. And all without the billions of tax-payer funded grants that the fusion cukt have no difficulty in getting. Perhaps it's simply because politicians are dim and impressed with big. Cean energy from turbines and PV is simply not sexy enough for them.

NB. ALL energy extracted by smashing atoms or from deep in the Earth's crust [deep source heat pumps], is extra to all the energy arriving on Earth from the Sun. That means it is adding to an already heating planet. While it doesn't directly add to CO2 like burning oil and gas, it adds energy to the mix which would otherwise have remained where it was, in atoms or deep below the surface. So nuclear isn't any kind of solution for what we face, a rapidly heating planet and species extinction. There's no time for all the CO2 and CH4 to disappear on it's own, so nuclear is part of the problem, and that includes fusion, if it ever manged to produce usable energy, which is highly dubious.

 

[Malthus]

If I am not mistaken, this project will build and use two lasers in its research, with each laser producing the same amount of power that the single laser at the US NIF produces.

Just in case some of you do not know why the NIF is significant, its because it achieved both fusion and energy gain with just one laser producing this amount of power. Two important steps in developing Fusion as an energy source.

https://physicsworld.com/a/national...trates-net-fusion-energy-gain-in-world-first/

Why do you think we need another energy source when we are harvesting only 1% of the available energy arriving from the Sun daily? The whole nuclear dream is nonsense, worshipping expensive big tech that adds energy to an already overheating planet. All paid for by taxes of course, and with fusion so far nothing to show for billions of investments. If this was anything else it would have been closed decades ago, but they keep coming up with promises of free energy soon. And notice I haven't even mentioned the toxic waste, radioactive spills into water courses, and danger of much worse if targetted by warmongers, as we are currently seeing in both Russia v Ukraine and Israel v the Muslim world. Not content with exploding oil stocks, they are now targeting nuclear sites.

I think nuclear is a complex death wish.

 

[wiyosaya]

Why do you think we need another energy source when we are harvesting only 1% of the available energy arriving from the Sun daily? The whole nuclear dream is nonsense, worshipping expensive big tech that adds energy to an already overheating planet. All paid for by taxes of course, and with fusion so far nothing to show for billions of investments. If this was anything else it would have been closed decades ago, but they keep coming up with promises of free energy soon. And notice I haven't even mentioned the toxic waste, radioactive spills into water courses, and danger of much worse if targetted by warmongers, as we are currently seeing in both Russia v Ukraine and Israel v the Muslim world. Not content with exploding oil stocks, they are now targeting nuclear sites.

I think nuclear is a complex death wish.

Ever heard the expression "Don't put all of your eggs in one basket.' ?? Whether YOU think nuclear of any kind is worth pursuing, plenty of people do, and to quote Kosh from Babylon 5, "The avalanche has started, it's too late for the pebbles to vote."

Looking at this differently, harvesting more than 1% of the Sun's energy would take how much land, sea, sky, or combination of them all?

One "sun harvester," PVs, is not all that efficient, and is also maintaining a body of researchers pursuing that avenue towards an increase in efficiency.

IMO, we need to pursue all avenues of "Energy" and maybe, just maybe, humanity will find one that will develop and be capable of supplying all of humanity's energy needs. Energy for Humanity, IMO, will not be a one-stop shopping trip.

 

[Malthus]

Ever heard the expression "Don't put all of your eggs in one basket.' ?? Whether YOU think nuclear of any kind is worth pursuing, plenty of people do, and to quote Kosh from Babylon 5, "The avalanche has started, it's too late for the pebbles to vote."

Looking at this differently, harvesting more than 1% of the Sun's energy would take how much land, sea, sky, or combination of them all?

One "sun harvester," PVs, is not all that efficient, and is also maintaining a body of researchers pursuing that avenue towards an increase in efficiency.

IMO, we need to pursue all avenues of "Energy" and maybe, just maybe, humanity will find one that will develop and be capable of supplying all of humanity's energy needs. Energy for Humanity, IMO, will not be a one-stop shopping trip.

So many questions pretending to be points. Harvesting - how much land sea etc: implying too much, but we have already covered most of the land with our roads, housesinfrastructure, we merely adapt and convert. Billions of roofs worldwide for PV, not as an afterthought but part of the design. New wind tech can be mounted on the same roofs, just think of all the warehouses and factories with roofs that absorb heat, sometimes not welcomed.

'All avenues ...' you actually believe in a magic bullet that we should continue to search for. Oh dear, back to basics.

'Whether YOU think nuclear of any kind is worth pursuing, plenty of people do ...' I'm uninterested that some are unable to understand that nuclear isn't part of any solution. Their opinions are spurious and based on ignorance and lack of critical thinking. EVEN IF a nuclear answer could satisfy all human needs. in our present predicament it would continue to add energy so the heating would continue and worsen. It would mean all energy from the sun was being unused except for the remaining plants, and thus all the renewable energy extracted from sun wind and tides would be left in the overheating energy that is already making many regions unstable and incapable of supporting life. We are getting more and more climate refugees moving from Africa into Europe. That will continue to grow as conditions worsen. Flooding too will add pressure.

'PVs, is not all that efficient, and is also maintaining a body of researchers pursuing that avenue towards an increase in efficiency'. - all development needs researchers, and results speak for themselves; advances are ongoing and your idea of efficiency is spurious, house holders with rooftop PV mostly have energy to sell back to the grid after providing all their needs. The greedy might want this to be more, and it will undoubtedly be so as wind generators as well as PV using new materials are integrated. Results. Fusion has no results, just eye watering amounts of money and power to try to light just one LED. Over decades.

There is a point where an idea is declared non viable, normal science would have ditched fusion decades ago, but still it drains cash that could be spent in so many different ways with very real results because it has admirers among challenged politicians and other egotists. The annual spend on fusion research would cover the country's roofs with PV. There would be plenty left to fund mass storage of energy and rational use from variable supplies.

Far from all eggs in one basket, PV is democratically distributing energy generation to millions and away from the giant corporations that decide first how much profit they want to make. It is LITERALLY making millions of baskets and filling them with eggs. Old style nuclear is only built by the French national nuclear industry so we wouldn't even own or control any new nukes being built. and you can bet the profits would be all France's. PV is the cheapest energy generation by many factors, it's fast and connected in days, not decades, and it's getting better and better.

Nuclear is a cult like club of true believers, whose sneer that opponents don't understand such high tech and are simple peasants for worrying about it, is somewhat belied by Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Windscale, Church Roack, Fukushima, and there and thousands of others that never made the headlines, all can be found on Wikipedia, and other sources.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Nuclear is a cult like club of true believers, whose sneer that opponents don't understand such high tech and are simple peasants for worrying about it, is somewhat belied by Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Windscale, Church Roack, Fukushima, and there and thousands of others that never made the headlines, all can be found on Wikipedia, and other sources.

So explain how nuclear energy can (and IS) being used for energy in many nations...

While Solar doesn't work for nations with minimal sunlight....Much like wind doesn't work for nations with minimal wind...and hydroelectric doesn't work for nations without powerfully moving rivers....

Nuclear might not be perfect - but it's reliable (meltdowns, despite flashy TV and fearmongers happen VERY rarely - you named 5 - other than Fukushima, those were decades ago - The Japanese reactor meltdown was cause by a natural disaster on an epic scale - and we LEARN from past mistakes - it won't happen again.

Meltdowns are FAR rarer than malfunctions with any other energy source, don't exhaust our fossil fuels like coal, oil, etc...

It might not be perfect - but - like democracy - it's the best we've got so far

Edit: I took at look at the "thousands of others" you mentioned...

List of nuclear power accidents by country - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

If there are 0 fatalities, I don't think we can call them major disasters.... which leaves us with VERY few - again, other than Japan, NO fatalities in decades - a crane collapsing and killing ONE person doesn't count as a "nuclear disaster" - that's a construction fatality - which occur all the time all over the world!