Tomas Diaz de la Rubia
November 10, 2008 @ 3 PMLocation: Wu and Chen Auditorium, Melvin & Claire Levine Hall
Categories: Special Event
Title: Energy Security and Climate Change: A New Approach for Global Sustainability in the 21st Century
Abstract: To meet increased energy demand, stabilize the increase of atmospheric CO2, and mitigate the concomitant climate change, alternative sources of energy are required. In this talk, I will discuss an approach to generating carbon-free, economically competitive power from nuclear energy that greatly mitigates proliferation concerns, minimizes nuclear waste and eliminates concerns related to reactor core meltdown accident scenarios. The approach, Laser Inertial Confinement Fusion-Fission Energy (LIFE), combines a modest, neutron-rich fusion source with a subcritical fission blanket into an engine capable of generating several thousand megawatts of electric power.
A LIFE engine eliminates the need for uranium enrichment and for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) reprocessing, and minimizes the production of long-lived actinides in nuclear waste. Moreover, LIFE engines can burn the existing inventories of SNF and excess plutonium, thereby drastically shrinking the nation's--and the world's--stockpiles of these special nuclear materials.
We envision this technology as capable of providing a global solution to carbon-free energy generation in the 21st century. I will describe progress at LLNL's National Ignition Facility towards achieving fusion ignition and burn – the sine qua non condition for LIFE – and will discuss the specifics of the LIFE engine design and the research challenges associated with making this vision a reality
