FPN09-08

Livermore Readies for Ignition; Looks Beyond

March 1, 2009

The laser-based National Ignition Facility (NIF) is nearing completion at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). A dedication will be held in late May; a "campaign" to ignite small pellets containing fusion fuel will begin in 2010. With confidence of success running high, scientists at LLNL have been looking beyond NIF, considering what they believe may be the fastest way for fusion to impact the world's energy needs: the fusion-fission hybrid power plant. Dubbed "LIFE" for Laser Inertial Fusion-Fission Energy, the plant would use a repetitively-pulsed neutron-rich fusion source to drive a more energy-rich fission blanket surrounding the fusion region.

LLNL notes the fission blanket could consist of nuclear waste from today's nuclear fission plants, thereby "dramatically shrinking the planet's stockpile of spent nuclear fuel and other materials that lend themselves to nuclear proliferation." They say, "LIFE power plants could generate gigawatts of power 24 hours a day for as long as 50 years without refueling, while avoiding carbon dioxide emissions, easing nuclear proliferation concerns and minimizing the concerns associated with nuclear safety and long-term nuclear waste disposal." This technology "could produce enough energy to meet the world's energy needs for hundreds of thousands of years," they say.

LLNL is preparing a LIFE Project Plan they say will aim at a Pilot Plant in 2020 and a Demonstration Power Plant in 2030.

Papers have been presented at several recent scientific conferences. Details of the concept can be found at:

https://lasers.llnl.gov/missions/energy_for_the_future/life/