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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Status of light ion approach inertial confinement fusion

Conference ·
OSTI ID:6140758

Personnel at Sandia National Laboratories, the Naval Research Laboratory, Cornell University, and Los Alamos National Laboratory are developing cost effective beams of lithium ions to bridge the energy gap between lasers and underground nuclear explosions in the national Inertial Fusion Program. We plan to probe the threshold for igniting thermonuclear fuel in the laboratory on the Particle Beam Fusion Accelerator II (PBFA II). We have met our April 1, 1989, milestone of 5 trillion watts per square centimeter power density on PBFA II. We wish to adapt the existing Hermes III accelerator at Sandia into a pre-prototype module of the DOE Laboratory Microfusion Facility for military applications in support of the DOE decision in the mid 90s on the best particle beam or laser for the facility. A German-American study concludes that our lithium ion approach offers the lowest cost option for fusion energy. 7 figs.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-76DP00789
OSTI ID:
6140758
Report Number(s):
SAND-89-1495C; CONF-8906148-2; ON: DE89013567
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English