Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
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In the News – 2010
December 23, 2010
How Science Changed Our World
Lasers and NIF are No. 4 on Prof. Robert Winston's list of the top ten scientific breakthroughs of the past 50 years. (Video) (BBC1)
December 17, 2010
Breakthrough of the Year: Areas to Watch
The National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California will make an end run in 2011 for a long-sought goal of energy research: an ignited fusion burn. (Science)
December 16, 2010
Synthetic Stars and the Future of Energy
NIF Director Ed Moses discusses the promise of laser inertial fusion energy at the San Francisco TED (technology, entertainment and design) conference at the California Academy of Sciences. (Video) (TEDxSF)
December 2, 2010
Keane Wins Special Fusion Power Associates Award
Chris Keane of the National Ignition Facility and Photon Science principal directorate is a recipient of the Board of Directors Special Award from Fusion Power Associates. (Newsline)
November 17, 2010
The £2.2billion Superlab Where Scientists Are Creating a Star on Earth
At the National Ignition Facility in Livermore California, scientists are aiming to build the world's first sustainable fusion reactor by "creating a miniature star on Earth." (The Daily Mail)
November 10, 2010
NIF clears latest hurdles towards laser fusion
The National Ignition Facility remains on track to achieve a fusion reaction within the next two years, following a series of key experiments performed within the past few weeks. (Optics.org)
November 9, 2010
DOE's chief weapons scientist to work on inertial fusion energy
Department of Energy undersecretary Steven Koonin has tapped David Crandall, the chief scientist at DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration, to devise a program for developing inertial fusion as an energy source. (Physics Today)
November 3, 2010
Federal lab seeks to harness the reaction at the heart of stars
The National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in is looking to the stars for inspiration to find solutions to the planet's energy problems. (Medill News Service)
November 2010
Sparking Ignition
The U.S. Department of Energy sponsored a project to build the National Ignition Facility. The project was headed for trouble – but a massive overhaul with a new project baseline helped it come in US$2 million under budget and three weeks ahead of schedule. These accomplishments earned it the PMI 2010 Project of the Year. (Includes Video) (PM Network)
November 2010
How Do Lasers Help Create Both the Coldest and Hottest Spots on Earth?
If successful, NIF will be the first facility to replicate in the laboratory the extreme conditions needed to achieve not only fusion ignition and burn, but also energy gain. As the supply of oil and natural gas steadily decline, experiments at the NIF will hopefully bring us closer to a viable source of nearly limitless, clean energy. (Physics Central)
October 29, 2010
Edward Moses on progress at the National Ignition Facility
Now engaged in a series of shots that will lead up to conducting full-scale ignition experiments as part of the National Ignition Campaign, the NIF is nearing its objective, says its director. (Videos) (SPIE Newsroom)
October 25, 2010
Celebrating Science and Engineering on the National Mall
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory showed a brain-bending 3-D movie about how its National Ignition Facility hopes to harness the power of fusion energy. (OSTP Blog)
October 22, 2010
The Promise of Fusion Power
Research on making fusion energy reality is in progress, and there are some who are convinced that the day will come when this free and abundant source will arrive. (Environmental News Network)
October 13, 2010
NIF to Achieve Nuclear Fusion Within Two Years
A recent test run of the world's most powerful laser proved that the instrument works, and raised hopes that scientists at the US National Ignition Facility will achieve nuclear fusion within two years. (Softpedia)
October 12, 2010
World's Most Powerful Laser on Target for Awesome Science
Scientists recently pulled together the pieces of the world's most powerful laser and, in a first-ever complete dry run, pulled the trigger on a peppercorn-sized pellet of nuclear fuel. The energy crushed the capsule instantly, causing it to spew a shower of neutrons. In short: It worked. (Wired Science)
October 8, 2010
Superlaser Begins Key Experiments
Testing time is over: the National Ignition Facility, the highest energy laser in the world, has fired its first shot at a capsule containing fusion fuel. (Science)
October 8, 2010
The Big Picture: The National Ignition Facility
"Creating a miniature star on Earth" is the goal of the National Ignition Facility, home to the world's largest and highest-energy laser in Livermore, California. (Photo Essay) (boston.com)
October 7, 2010
NIF completes first integrated ignition experiment
NIF has completed its first integrated ignition experiment. With the completion of this test, NIF is beginning its next phase of the campaign to culminate in fusion ignition tests. (Laser Focus World)
October 6, 2010
Livermore Lab conducts first experiments with fusion fuel
Lawrence Livermore Laboratory announced Wednesday that its first experiment at the National Ignition Facility using a frozen pellet of fusion fuels yielded excellent results. (Contra Costa Times)
October 3, 2010
From the Lab: A Future Barely Glimpsed
Here in Livermore, the world's finest physicists are on the verge of a breakthrough that could power entire cities on a bathtub full of water. (ScriptPhD)
September 13, 2010
The Light Fantastic
Lasers are found everywhere, but what does the future hold for the technology? (New Electronics)
August 2, 2010
Laser fusion energy: commercial by 2030?
A prototype commercial laser fusion reactor could be up and running by 2020, with power stations based on the technique in place ten years later. (optics.org)
August 1, 2010
The National Ignition Facility: Operational Status and Plans
Ed Moses's plenary presentation from Optics + Photonics 2010. (Video) (SPIE.TV)
August 2010
How scientists built a star on Earth
One of the most groundbreaking scientific achievements in human history is being attempted: to make a miniature Sun on Earth. (Wired UK)
July 30, 2010
LLNL's Patel recognized by Fusion Power Associates
Fusion Power Associates has awarded LLNL's Prav Patel its 2010 Excellence in Fusion Engineering Award. (Newsline)
July 25, 2010
The National Ignition Facility and Energy
KGO Newstalk Radio host Bill Wattenburg interviews NIF Director Ed Moses. (Audio) (KGO Radio)
July 21, 2010
Programmable beam spatial shaping for the National Ignition Facility
Introducing small obscurations to shadow-isolated anomalies on downstream optics helps to protect the high-fluence laser system and enhance operational flexibility. (SPIE Newsroom)
July 16, 2010
In Search of the Next Edison
In effect, what the scientists at the NIF are attempting to do is create a miniature sun right here on earth. (Wall Street Journal)
July 14, 2010
Scientist Inspires a New Generation of Inventors
Jefferson Award winner Ed Moses explains the challenges and scientific solutions to the next generation. (Video) (KPIX-TV)
July 13, 2010
It's Not Easy Being Green: Powering the Future
Scientists at the National Ignition Facility are using the world's biggest and highest powered lasers as a power source for smashing together the hydrogen atoms in a droplet of water, resulting in nuclear fusion. (ScriptPhD.com)
July 11, 2010
Livermore Lab focuses its lasers on fusion
The National Ignition Facility not only conducts experiments to ensure the reliability of America's nuclear stockpile but also hopes to solve the nation's energy problems. (Contra Costa Times)
July 9, 2010
LLNL captures six R&D 100 awards; three for photonic innovations
In addition to three awards for new radiation detection materials, carbon nanotube water purification methods, and software for detecting nuclear materials, three of the other award-winning innovations were photonic in nature. (OptoIQ)
July 8, 2010
The laser and the next 50 years
NIF has recently begun its experimental programme and it has the goal of achieving "ignition," where it will produce more energy than was used to start the reaction. (ILC Director's Corner)
July 2, 2010
Nobel Laureates, pioneers celebrate lasers in the City of Light
The presentations implied no limit to what the laser can do, either at very small scales (ultrafast and attosecond dynamics), to the generation of fusion energy, to guide-star applications on the largest of scales, outer space. (OptoIQ)
June 21, 2010
Why we shouldn't give up on nuclear fusion
The laser fusion effort at the National Ignition Facility might actually demonstrate ignition within the next year. (smartplanet.com)
June 16, 2010
Clean Fusion Power This Decade
Ed Moses describes the need for new energy sources and LLNL's Laser Inertial Fusion Energy (LIFE) concept at a Long Now Foundation seminar. (Video) (FORA.tv)
June 7, 2010
A half-century-old, the laser still beams brightly into the future
The NIF is the latest milestone in the laser's amazing career. (EarthTimes)
June 4, 2010
Using star power for a clean-energy future (photos)
Scientists are attempting to demonstrate that laser fusion is possible, and hope the process can someday be used to generate clean energy. (ZDNet)
June 2010
12 Events That Will Change Everything
Fusion Energy: It would solve environmental headaches, but it remains hard to achieve. (Scientific American)
May 22, 2010
Is Fusion Energy in Our Future?
NIF Director Ed Moses discusses the Laser Inertial Fusion Energy (LIFE) concept at the 2010 Maker Faire in San Mateo, CA (Video) (FORA.tv)
May 19, 2010
Did Supernovas Shatter Life's Mirror?
NIF's Richard Boyd and colleagues say supernovae may be responsible for the predominance of left-handed amino acids. (New Scientist)
May 14, 2010
Lasers at the cutting edge of science
"The National Ignition Facility is pushing forward the whole area of high-powered lasers, using solid state lasers based on ceramics." (Scientific American Observations)
May 14, 2010
Laser Fusion Energy Poised to Ignite
Once lasers have shown that they can spark fusion, what next? Projects in Japan, Europe, and the United States are working to build lasers with the necessary power and repetition rate to make energy from laser fusion a reality. (Science)
May 10, 2010
Dunne to move from HiPER to NIF
Mike Dunne, Director of the UK Science & Technology Facilities Council Photon Science Department and leader of the HiPER project, will move to the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in June. (SPIE News)
May 2010
Fusion’s bright new dawn (PDF)
Achieving ignition – fusion’s break-even point – with the world’s largest laser will transform the search for abundant, carbon-free electricity. (Physics World)
April 29, 2010
World's largest laser fires up for attempt to build new star on Earth
Scientists are using the world's largest laser in an attempt to build a star on Earth. The laser at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is roughly the size of three American football fields, and those in charge of it aren't joking when they say they'll create a tiny sun in the next few months. (news.com.au)
April 28, 2010
Can world's largest laser zap Earth's energy woes?
Scientists at a government lab are trying to use the world's largest laser – it's the size of three football fields – to set off a nuclear reaction so intense that it will make a star bloom on the surface of the Earth. (CNN)
April 16, 2010
Testing nukes without blowing up bombs
At Livermore, it is all about virtual testing. Scientists actually generate the conditions of a nuclear weapon to analyze the nuclear stockpiles to make sure they are functioning correctly. (CNN)
April 11, 2010
U.S. riddle: Keeping old warheads trusty despite ban on tests
Livermore's approach involves a combination of supercomputer simulations and experiments, the most ambitious of which will use a $5 billion laser apparatus in an attempt to create a controlled version of an exploding hydrogen bomb. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
March 29, 2010
Future Earth: Addicted To Power
We rely on fossil fuels – oil, coal, and gas – which all emit the carbon that contributes to global warming. The dilemma is how to keep the lights on without cooking the planet. (Video) (CBC)
March 23, 2010
Fusion's Ups and Downs
The National Ignition Facility is aiming to create the first-ever controlled reaction that puts out more energy than it takes in. (MSNBC)
March 13, 2010
Laser Fusion: Demo Plant Within Sight
A demonstration plant at the National Ignition Facility in California is expected to be running in 2 years' time. If successful it would produce limitless clean electricity. (The Science Show)
March 10, 2010
Welcome to the Atomic Weapons Establishment
With the launch of a powerful laser facility, Britain's most secretive lab is opening up to academics. (Nature)
March 5, 2010
Controlling Implosion Symmetry Around a Deuterium-Tritium Target
The distribution of radiation inside a cavity can be accurately controlled to create a symmetrical implosion, thereby removing major obstacles to the realization of fusion energy in the laboratory. (Science)
February 25, 2010
Laser Power May Put Fusion Power Within Reach in a Few Decades
Fifty years after the laser was born, its descendants include devices that could soon peer through three feet of steel and detect the smallest cancers. But its most important offspring could be a technology that puts a clean energy future in reach within decades. (AAAS)
February 22, 2010
It's a golden year for lasers
The biggest spotlight for laser power falls on the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore Lab in California, where researchers are working toward producing the world's first controlled nuclear fusion burn. (MSNBC)
February 21, 2010
Lasers may enable fusion
Can a swimming pool's worth of water power California for a year? The answer is yes, assuming all goes according to plan for scientists working on laser-driven fusion. (CNN SciTech Blog)
February 21, 2010
UK plans first nuclear fusion power plant
The world is watching and waiting to see what happens at NIF. (The Sunday Times)
February 9, 2010
Lawrence Livermore Tries To Harness Energy That Powers Stars (video) (KTVU-TV)
February 8, 2010
Waiting For a Star Birth
Will the year 2010 be a true turning point? Given, the history of fusion research, this might seem simply an optimistic consideration. However, if the strong signals from National Ignition Facility are of any indication, that could be an actual "star birth" the scientific world has been waiting for. (The Huffington Post)
February 2, 2010
How scientists brought the power of the Sun to Earth
The jubilant scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory didn't create a self-sustained nuclear fusion reaction, but they are closer than ever to this goal, which would give humanity virtually unlimited, pollution-free energy. (Phasing)
February 1, 2010
World's most powerful laser to trigger fusion reaction this year
A pivotal step in the march towards fusion power, the "holy grail" of sustainable clean energy, could be taken this year. (The Telegraph)
February 1, 2010
Laser Beams Close in on Fusion Energy
You could see emission-free, safe nuclear fusion powering homes in the near future (Discovery.com)
January 31, 2010
Ten Serious Nuclear Fusion Projects Making Progress Around the World
Attention is particularly focused on fusion right now because of an unexpected breakthrough at the National Ignition Facility, and another at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (Bnet Energy)
January 29, 2010
Test Shots Show Laser Fusion Experiment Is on Target
Scientists say they are on target to attempt ignition – a self-sustaining fusion reaction that produces excess energy – before the end of this year. (Science)
January 29, 2010
Focusing 192 lasers on one little target
Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory reported Thursday they have taken a major step toward harnessing the forces that power the sun in an effort to create unlimited energy on Earth. (San Francisco Chronicle)
January 29, 2010
Lasers zap fusion doubts at NIF
Researchers in the US say they have made a crucial breakthrough towards achieving laser fusion and that they expect to generate the conditions for a sustained nuclear reaction by the end of the year. (Physics World)
January 29, 2010
Peering inside an artificial sun
Techniques developed by MIT center provide detailed images from the inside of hellishly hot core of advanced fusion experiments. (MIT News)
January 29, 2010
Laser fusion tests overcome plasma hurdle
The first laser fusion experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility have successfully overcome a hurdle that many thought would scupper the project. (TG Daily)
January 29, 2010
Big Government, Big Lasers
How does essentially limitless energy, with zero carbon emissions sound? (American Prospect Blog)
January 28, 2010
Is Fusion Success in Sight?
Experiments at the National Ignition Facility have given researchers confidence that they'll achieve a milestone in nuclear fusion sometime this year. (MSNBC)
January 28, 2010
Laser fusion test results raise energy hopes
A major hurdle to producing fusion energy using lasers has been swept aside, results in a new report show. (BBC News)
January 28, 2010
Fusion Power a Step Closer After Giant Laser Blast
Nuclear fusion plant possible within a decade, physicist says. (National Geographic News)
January 28, 2010
Scientists Overcome Obstacle to Fusion
The world's largest laser system has uniformly compressed and superheated a fuel capsule. (Technology Review)
January 28, 2010
Livermore Lab scientists report promising step toward fusion
NIF researchers overcome key hurdle, but more obstacles await (Contra Costa Times)
January 28, 2010
Scientists use a big (really big!) laser to move fusion science forward
In the new experiment the scientists heated a capsule to 3.3 million Kelvin, or the brink of igniting fusion plasmas and collected loads of valuable data. (Houston Chronicle)
January 28, 2010
National Ignition Facility reaches 1 megajoule
The National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which is at the heart of the stockpile stewardship program to maintain the reliability of US nuclear weapons without conducting nuclear underground tests, has successfully delivered more than 1 megajoule of laser energy to a target in a few billionths of a second. (Physics Today)
January 28, 2010
NIF Moves 5.9 Million Degrees Closer To Fusion Power
The National Ignition Facility has fired up its 192 lasers and zapped something, moving us one step closer to the day of clean, nearly free, fusion energy. (Popular Science)
January 28, 2010
One-Megajoule Laser Shot Achieved
Nuclear fusion ignition is brought closer (Softpedia)
January 27, 2010
US scientists step towards nuclear fusion with laser shot
Scientists have produced a laser shot with an unprecedented energy level that could be a key step towards nuclear fusion, the US National Nuclear Security Administration said Wednesday. (Agence France-Presse)
