Another case for government funding science research

This morning I came across a brilliant Newsweek article about the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in Livermore, CA, part of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. I had heard about the NIF through living and working in the Bay Area, but I didn't know that the point of it was to create renewable energy. This is a game-changing experiment they're carrying out, in that if they're successful, and the model of the NIF can be scaled-up to suit commercial ventures, the utility companies could adopt this around the country to provide clean energy.

I will have to explore the topic further another time, but the possibilities of powering the fleet of battery-electric vehicles that will, in all likelihood, be transporting us in the near future, are quite exciting. Here's the key element of this project, detailed with somewhat technical language:

What Moses is talking about is controlled nuclear fusion—fusing nuclei rather than splitting a nucleus, as happens in ordinary nuclear-fission power plants. In a fission reaction, the nucleus of a uranium atom is split into two smaller atoms, releasing energy in the form of heat. The heat is used to make steam, which drives a turbine and generates electricity. In fusion energy, the second half of this process (heat makes steam makes electricity) remains the same. But instead of splitting the nucleus of an atom, you're trying to force a deuterium nucleus to merge, or fuse, with a tritium nucleus. When that happens, you produce helium and throw off energy.

The one concern of mine that they don't cover in this article is the steam-making process; where is the water to make that steam supposed to come from? The East Bay, where Livermore is located, is not exactly inundated with wellsprings in every backyard. I would hope that there is a mechanism for recapturing the steam and condensing it back into a closed-loop system, but I suppose that will take further research on my part.

In any case, if this works, it will truly change the possibilities for the future of energy. Rather than looking to manipulate or capture the "macro" elements of nature (sunlight, wind, wave energy, etc.) here we are looking to the "micro" elements to provide power (deuterium and tritium, in this case). Fascinating; I have my fingers crossed that it all works out for Mr. Moses and his team.