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Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

🇺🇸 Livermore, US · Active

Also known as LLNL

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a US Department of Energy laboratory in Livermore, California, established in 1952 and managed by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC. Its principal mission is the safety and reliability of US nuclear weapons. It operates the National Ignition Facility (NIF), completed in 2009, where 192 laser beams implode a small capsule of deuterium–tritium fuel. On 5 December 2022 a NIF shot released 3.15 megajoules of fusion energy from 2.05 megajoules of laser energy delivered to the target, the first time a laboratory experiment had done so. That comparison counts only the laser light reaching the target, not the electricity used to power the lasers. NIF's work serves the weapons programme as well as fusion and high energy density science.

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Sector
Fusion
Technology
Laser ICF, indirect drive
Fuel
Deuterium–tritium
Role
National laboratory, Operator

It is the operator of record for National Ignition Facility (operating). Measured results for National Ignition Facility are listed below.

Terms

Laser ICF, indirect drive
Laser energy is converted to X-rays inside a small gold or uranium can (a hohlraum), and the X-rays drive the capsule. The NIF configuration. Only about a tenth of the laser energy ends up absorbed by the capsule, most of the rest heating the hohlraum wall, which is the main efficiency cost indirect drive carries relative to direct drive.
Deuterium–tritium
Lowest ignition threshold; 80% of energy in 14.1 MeV neutrons. The reference fuel for every near-term net-gain claim.

Results

Devices

National Ignition FacilityLaser ICF, indirect driveOperating31 figures on record

Related companies

Sources