Comments for Helian Unbound http://helian.net/blog The world as I see it Wed, 09 May 2012 10:55:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on Nuclear Power, Thorium, and the Role of Government by Nuclear Power, Thorium, and the Role of Government « Bill Totten's Weblog http://helian.net/blog/2012/05/06/us-politics/nuclear-power-thorium-and-the-role-of-government/comment-page-1/#comment-9897 Nuclear Power, Thorium, and the Role of Government « Bill Totten's Weblog Wed, 09 May 2012 10:55:44 +0000 http://helian.net/blog/?p=3005#comment-9897 [...] Add a comment to this post: http://helian.net/blog/2012/05/06/us-politics/nuclear-power-thorium-and-the-role-of-government/#resp... [...] [...] Add a comment to this post: http://helian.net/blog/2012/05/06/us-politics/nuclear-power-thorium-and-the-role-of-government/#resp... [...]

]]> Comment on Fusion Update: Signs of Life from the National Ignition Facility by Sandra http://helian.net/blog/2012/04/17/nuclear-weapons/fusion-update-signs-of-life-from-the-national-ignition-facility/comment-page-1/#comment-9887 Sandra Wed, 09 May 2012 00:32:38 +0000 http://helian.net/blog/?p=2997#comment-9887 Thanks for the background. I read Bodner's memo "http://fire.pppl.gov/IFE_NAS_Bodner_PlanB.pdf" pages 7 though 9 and it was terrible. For him. What's his problem, he can't stand hippie scientists? He sounds like a Prima Donna or someone with a serious grudge. Perhaps he once was a great scientist but he has been retired since 1999 so I would not expect him to be current. At any rate, direct drive has not worked either. I guess that's why he has his hand out for "another lab to compete" which btw will cost the tax payer twice as much. Unfortunately these fights are mostly political, over funding and power, and the technical is merely a football and not centre stage as it should be. Thanks for the background.

I read Bodner’s memo “http://fire.pppl.gov/IFE_NAS_Bodner_PlanB.pdf” pages 7 though 9 and it was terrible. For him. What’s his problem, he can’t stand hippie scientists? He sounds like a Prima Donna or someone with a serious grudge. Perhaps he once was a great scientist but he has been retired since 1999 so I would not expect him to be current. At any rate, direct drive has not worked either. I guess that’s why he has his hand out for “another lab to compete” which btw will cost the tax payer twice as much.

Unfortunately these fights are mostly political, over funding and power, and the technical is merely a football and not centre stage as it should be.

]]> Comment on Fusion Update: Signs of Life from the National Ignition Facility by Helian http://helian.net/blog/2012/04/17/nuclear-weapons/fusion-update-signs-of-life-from-the-national-ignition-facility/comment-page-1/#comment-9886 Helian Wed, 09 May 2012 00:11:47 +0000 http://helian.net/blog/?p=2997#comment-9886 Back in the day, before Nova, the NIF's predecessor at Livermore, was built, there was some hope that ignition could be reached on that facility. However, that facility had only 10 beams, and it would have been difficult to get the necessary illumination symmetry in direct drive, so it was decided to go with indirect drive. Subsequently, Livermore became the "lead lab" for indirect drive. The OMEGA laser at the University of Rochester, which is still in operation, had 60 beams, so Rochester became the lead lab for direct drive. There was also an ICF team at the Naval Research Laboratory led by a brilliant physicist named Steve Bodner. Steve was an advocate of gas lasers over glass, and also preferred direct drive. He was always a thorn in Livermore's side, and that rivalry probably also had something to do with Livermore's continued reliance on indirect drive. Livermore could certainly try a version of direct drive known as polar direct drive if indirect drive doesn't work. After the current ignition campaign ends at the end of the fiscal year, however, the weapons guys will have their turn, and I doubt their plans include direct drive. DU is being used in the hohlraum because models predicted and experiments confirmed that it would result in higher implosion velocities. Back in the day, before Nova, the NIF’s predecessor at Livermore, was built, there was some hope that ignition could be reached on that facility. However, that facility had only 10 beams, and it would have been difficult to get the necessary illumination symmetry in direct drive, so it was decided to go with indirect drive. Subsequently, Livermore became the “lead lab” for indirect drive. The OMEGA laser at the University of Rochester, which is still in operation, had 60 beams, so Rochester became the lead lab for direct drive. There was also an ICF team at the Naval Research Laboratory led by a brilliant physicist named Steve Bodner. Steve was an advocate of gas lasers over glass, and also preferred direct drive. He was always a thorn in Livermore’s side, and that rivalry probably also had something to do with Livermore’s continued reliance on indirect drive.

Livermore could certainly try a version of direct drive known as polar direct drive if indirect drive doesn’t work. After the current ignition campaign ends at the end of the fiscal year, however, the weapons guys will have their turn, and I doubt their plans include direct drive. DU is being used in the hohlraum because models predicted and experiments confirmed that it would result in higher implosion velocities.

]]> Comment on Fusion Update: Signs of Life from the National Ignition Facility by Sandra http://helian.net/blog/2012/04/17/nuclear-weapons/fusion-update-signs-of-life-from-the-national-ignition-facility/comment-page-1/#comment-9879 Sandra Tue, 08 May 2012 17:05:52 +0000 http://helian.net/blog/?p=2997#comment-9879 the alternative to a breeder reactor is a proton accelerator to produce tritium, independent from the fusion facility. I take it your work involves thorium reactors and you are a thorium advocate? Or nuclear weapons researcher? Every obstacle you presented has solutions, it seems. Which leads me to conclude that we can do fusion energy if we put our minds to it. Do you know why the NIF chose indirect drive over direct drive? I wonder if the secondary heating from the hohlraum provides a more controlled environment for monitoring the implosion and tuning the lasers and timing. If so, I wonder if they could take off the training wheels and go to direct drive later with what they have learned using the hohlraum. Just speculating. I had not heard of "fast ignitor". Does the DU in the hohlraum undergo fission? Or is it simply that the higher atomic mass of DU imparts greater momentum/kinetic energy to the DT fuel than lead or gold? You seem to know this subject, indulge me if you will. I hope NIF does reach ignition this year, that will assure continued funding and silence many critics. Then, a serious discussion can begin on future direction for this capability, and I don't just mean stockpile testing. the alternative to a breeder reactor is a proton accelerator to produce tritium, independent from the fusion facility. I take it your work involves thorium reactors and you are a thorium advocate? Or nuclear weapons researcher? Every obstacle you presented has solutions, it seems. Which leads me to conclude that we can do fusion energy if we put our minds to it.

Do you know why the NIF chose indirect drive over direct drive? I wonder if the secondary heating from the hohlraum provides a more controlled environment for monitoring the implosion and tuning the lasers and timing. If so, I wonder if they could take off the training wheels and go to direct drive later with what they have learned using the hohlraum. Just speculating. I had not heard of “fast ignitor”. Does the DU in the hohlraum undergo fission? Or is it simply that the higher atomic mass of DU imparts greater momentum/kinetic energy to the DT fuel than lead or gold? You seem to know this subject, indulge me if you will.

I hope NIF does reach ignition this year, that will assure continued funding and silence many critics. Then, a serious discussion can begin on future direction for this capability, and I don’t just mean stockpile testing.

]]> Comment on On the Role and Legitimacy of Morality by Helian http://helian.net/blog/2012/04/18/morality/on-the-role-and-legitimacy-of-morality/comment-page-1/#comment-9876 Helian Tue, 08 May 2012 12:44:32 +0000 http://helian.net/blog/?p=3002#comment-9876 We certainly run on autopilot a good part of the time, Christian. On the other hand, as you say, we have conscious minds, too, and can influence the driver. We can also reason about what the driver is "really" trying to accomplish, and whether the predispositions nature has equipped us with to reach the ultimate destination are still functional. That's why defeat of the Blank Slate ideologues was so important. Once we recognize that we have innate behavioral traits, we can at least try to minimize the destructiveness of those that have become dysfunctional. We certainly run on autopilot a good part of the time, Christian. On the other hand, as you say, we have conscious minds, too, and can influence the driver. We can also reason about what the driver is “really” trying to accomplish, and whether the predispositions nature has equipped us with to reach the ultimate destination are still functional. That’s why defeat of the Blank Slate ideologues was so important. Once we recognize that we have innate behavioral traits, we can at least try to minimize the destructiveness of those that have become dysfunctional.

]]> Comment on Fusion Update: Signs of Life from the National Ignition Facility by Helian http://helian.net/blog/2012/04/17/nuclear-weapons/fusion-update-signs-of-life-from-the-national-ignition-facility/comment-page-1/#comment-9874 Helian Tue, 08 May 2012 12:17:37 +0000 http://helian.net/blog/?p=2997#comment-9874 I have no objection to fusion if it can be made to work, Sandra, and I support increased funding for fusion research, as opposed to white elephants like ITER. I just don't think we should ignore the obvious drawbacks to the two current mainstream approaches; magnetic and ICF. There is no question that tritium is dangerous once it gets inside the body. If you doubt that you are simply willfully ignoring the truth. We can certainly breed tritium, and have already done so for the nuclear weapons program. The problem isn't that we can't do it, but that producing enough of it to keep a reactor going and extracting it and fabricating targets from it in real time would be an engineering nightmare even if it were scientifically feasible. I doubt that such an approach will ever be economically competitive with, for example, thorium breeders. Tritium does not occur naturally in sea water. You are probably thinking of the lighter isotope, deuterium, which does. I certainly support the work at NIF, but don't think we should ignore the fact that the goal of ignition hasn't proved as easy to reach as some had imagined. My greatest fear in that quarter is that, after the current ignition campaign ends at the end of the fiscal year, the government will lose interest and cut funding for further experiments. The idea that central hot spot ignition would work was always a stretch, but there are other approaches that might, such as fast ignitor and polar direct drive. My opinion is and always has been that NIF should be fully funded for operation with as many shifts as the guys at Livermore think they can handle. Building such a world class facility and then letting it sit idle or operating on half shifts would be short sighted indeed. ICF may or may not be viable as a future source of energy, but there is no doubt whatever that it will give us a major advantage over the competition in maintaining a safe and reliable nuclear stockpile in an era of no nuclear testing. I have no objection to fusion if it can be made to work, Sandra, and I support increased funding for fusion research, as opposed to white elephants like ITER. I just don’t think we should ignore the obvious drawbacks to the two current mainstream approaches; magnetic and ICF. There is no question that tritium is dangerous once it gets inside the body. If you doubt that you are simply willfully ignoring the truth. We can certainly breed tritium, and have already done so for the nuclear weapons program. The problem isn’t that we can’t do it, but that producing enough of it to keep a reactor going and extracting it and fabricating targets from it in real time would be an engineering nightmare even if it were scientifically feasible. I doubt that such an approach will ever be economically competitive with, for example, thorium breeders. Tritium does not occur naturally in sea water. You are probably thinking of the lighter isotope, deuterium, which does. I certainly support the work at NIF, but don’t think we should ignore the fact that the goal of ignition hasn’t proved as easy to reach as some had imagined. My greatest fear in that quarter is that, after the current ignition campaign ends at the end of the fiscal year, the government will lose interest and cut funding for further experiments. The idea that central hot spot ignition would work was always a stretch, but there are other approaches that might, such as fast ignitor and polar direct drive. My opinion is and always has been that NIF should be fully funded for operation with as many shifts as the guys at Livermore think they can handle. Building such a world class facility and then letting it sit idle or operating on half shifts would be short sighted indeed. ICF may or may not be viable as a future source of energy, but there is no doubt whatever that it will give us a major advantage over the competition in maintaining a safe and reliable nuclear stockpile in an era of no nuclear testing.

]]> Comment on Nuclear Power, Thorium, and the Role of Government by Helian http://helian.net/blog/2012/05/06/us-politics/nuclear-power-thorium-and-the-role-of-government/comment-page-1/#comment-9873 Helian Tue, 08 May 2012 11:47:27 +0000 http://helian.net/blog/?p=3005#comment-9873 Thanks. You can usually rent articles like that on DeepDyve a lot cheaper than you can buy them. Thanks. You can usually rent articles like that on DeepDyve a lot cheaper than you can buy them.

]]> Comment on Nuclear Power, Thorium, and the Role of Government by Bill Totten http://helian.net/blog/2012/05/06/us-politics/nuclear-power-thorium-and-the-role-of-government/comment-page-1/#comment-9870 Bill Totten Tue, 08 May 2012 06:44:14 +0000 http://helian.net/blog/?p=3005#comment-9870 Excellent, informative post. By the way, I ordered the article you recommended the other day and will read it soon. Thanks very much. Excellent, informative post. By the way, I ordered the article you recommended the other day and will read it soon. Thanks very much.

]]> Comment on Nuclear Power, Thorium, and the Role of Government by Bill Totten http://helian.net/blog/2012/05/06/us-politics/nuclear-power-thorium-and-the-role-of-government/comment-page-1/#comment-9869 Bill Totten Tue, 08 May 2012 06:42:17 +0000 http://helian.net/blog/?p=3005#comment-9869 Excellent, informative post. By the way, I have ordered the article you recommended the other day and will read it soon. Excellent, informative post. By the way, I have ordered the article you recommended the other day and will read it soon.

]]> Comment on All Quiet on the Fusion Front: Notes on ITER and the National Ignition Facility by Sandra http://helian.net/blog/2012/02/29/inertial-confinement-fusion/all-quiet-on-the-fusion-front-notes-on-iter-and-the-national-ignition-facility/comment-page-1/#comment-9855 Sandra Sun, 06 May 2012 23:59:17 +0000 http://helian.net/blog/?p=2885#comment-9855 "tritium economy.  Each of them will burn on the order of 50 kilograms of tritium per year" That's fantastic news if we can base the entire US "tritium economy" on a measly 50 kg's of the isotope. I thought you were going to say 50 kilo tons or something substantial. If the USA cannot come up with 50kg of tritium why don't we just fold and disband. “tritium economy.  Each of them will burn on the order of 50 kilograms of tritium per year”

That’s fantastic news if we can base the entire US “tritium economy” on a measly 50 kg’s of the isotope. I thought you were going to say 50 kilo tons or something substantial. If the USA cannot come up with 50kg of tritium why don’t we just fold and disband.

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