Achievement of target gain larger than unity in an inertial fusion experiment.

On December 5, 2022, an indirect drive fusion implosion on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) achieved a target gain G_{target} of 1.5. This is the first laboratory demonstration of exceeding "scientific breakeven" (or G_{target}>1) where 2.05 MJ of 351 nm laser light produced 3.1 MJ of total fusion yield, a result which significantly exceeds the Lawson criterion for fusion ignition as reported in a previous NIF implosion [H. Abu-Shawareb et al. (Indirect Drive ICF Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 075001 (2022)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.129.075001]. This achievement is the culmination of more than five decades of research and gives proof that laboratory fusion, based on fundamental physics principles, is possible. This Letter reports on the target, laser, design, and experimental advancements that led to this result

Lawson criterion for ignition exceeded in an inertial fusion experiment

For more than half a century, researchers around the world have been engaged in attempts to achieve fusion ignition as a proof of principle of various fusion concepts. Following the Lawson criterion, an ignited plasma is one where the fusion heating power is high enough to overcome all the physical processes that cool the fusion plasma, creating a positive thermodynamic feedback loop with rapidly increasing temperature. In inertially confined fusion, ignition is a state where the fusion plasma can begin "burn propagation" into surrounding cold fuel, enabling the possibility of high energy gain. While "scientific breakeven" (i.e., unity target gain) has not yet been achieved (here target gain is 0.72, 1.37 MJ of fusion for 1.92 MJ of laser energy), this Letter reports the first controlled fusion experiment, using laser indirect drive, on the National Ignition Facility to produce capsule gain (here 5.8) and reach ignition by nine different formulations of the Lawson criterion

Experimental investigations of uncovered-bundle heat transfer and two-phase mixture-level swell under high-pressure low heat-flux conditions. [PWR]

Results are reported from a series of uncovered-bundle heat transfer and mixture-level swell tests. Experimental testing was performed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the Thermal Hydraulic Test Facility (THTF). The THTF is an electrically heated bundle test loop configured to produce conditions similar to those in a small-break loss-of-coolant accident. The objective of heat transfer testing was to acquire heat transfer coefficients and fluid conditions in a partially uncovered bundle. Testing was performed in a quasi-steady-state mode with the heated core 30 to 40% uncovered. Linear heat rates varied from 0.32 to 2.22 kW/m.rod (0.1 to 0.68 kW/ft.rod). Under these conditions peak clad temperatures in excess of 1050 K (1430/sup 0/F) were observed, and total heat transfer coefficients ranged from 0.0045 to 0.037 W/cm/sup 2/.K (8 to 65 Btu/h.ft/sup 2/./sup 0/F). Spacer grids were observed to enhance heat transfer at, and downstream of, the grid. Radiation heat transfer was calculated to account for as much as 65% of total heat transfer in low-flow tests