The Americans made a thermonuclear breakthrough on the 100th anniversary of the Soviet academician Basov

Scientists have long dreamed of domesticating fusion energy. In terms of efficiency and safety, it could replace all other sources of energy, including the most efficient nuclear power plants today.

If nuclear energy was transferred to peaceful rails as early as five years after the test of a nuclear bomb, fusion, an analogue of solar reactions, could not be tamed for a long time. Just think about it – the first hydrogen (thermonuclear) bomb was detonated 69 (!) years ago, and the earth’s “sun” has not yet blazed.

Help “MK” A classic thermonuclear reaction occurs when overcoming the electrostatic repulsion of two positively charged nuclei of deuterium and tritium.

That is why the result, which was reported on Monday by the overseas press, is so important. Livermore National Laboratory carried out the so-called inertial controlled thermonuclear fusion, namely the collision of deuterium and tritium using the world’s largest laser. The Americans made an explosion in the national complex National Ignition Facility (NIF) – National Laser Ignition System. As a result, 2.5 megajoules of energy were generated – almost 120% of the 2.1 megajoules spent by the laser. The US Department of Energy has not yet made an official statement, but called the experiment a “major scientific breakthrough.”

– The data voiced by the American press, of course, still require verification, but if they are confirmed, this can be considered a major step forward in the implementation of thermonuclear fusion, – comments the director of the Physical Institute. Lebedev RAS, RAS Corresponding Member Nikolai Kolachevsky. – I have just returned from the ceremonial meeting of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the outstanding Soviet physicist Nikolai Gennadievich Basov, who headed our institute from 1973 to 1989. So it is precisely to this great scientist that the idea of ​​thermonuclear fusion belongs!

– What is it?

– In a tight compression of the target, which is understood as a thermonuclear mixture of deuterium with tritium. That is, it is the receipt of synthesis, similar to what happens on the Sun. In order to combine, so to speak, at first glance, uncombinable (after all, the nuclei are equally charged), it is necessary to provide a high density of matter and a very high temperature at the same time so that the two nuclei merge with the release of energy. The physics of the process was understood for a long time, but it was not so easy to implement it. According to Basov’s plan, it was necessary to compress the target with several laser beams from different sides. They would cause heating, a shock wave with the appearance of a dense target – plasma, in which deuterium and tritium nuclei can collide. When scientists realized this, the quick idea of ​​​​igniting a target with the release of energy, which significantly compensates for the spent energy, warmed their souls for a long time. However, experiments on spherical compression of a thermonuclear target carried out in our country (they began at the FIAN in the early 1970s at the Kalmar facility) and abroad did not lead to anything for a long time. Therefore, now, if the results obtained at the NIF facility are confirmed, they can be considered the first experimental confirmation of N.G. Basov’s idea.

– What is a NIF installation?

– If Basov’s laser beams were focused directly directly on a tiny target, the Americans’ beams (there are 192 of them) are focused not on the target itself, but on the inner walls of the hollow cylinder. This device – a converter – converts laser radiation into x-rays. And the target is symmetrically compressed from all sides by precisely this radiation. This idea turned out to be good, today the whole world has gone down this path.

– How long does it take to react?

“One hundred billionths of a second. It is essentially a small thermonuclear explosion, which differs from a bomb explosion in that it is controlled.

– Let’s imagine that physicists proved their success by setting fire to a thermonuclear. What’s next?

– In fact, before this idea comes to application, it will be necessary to solve many issues. It will be necessary to somehow collect the received energy, convert it into heat. Although a thermonuclear reaction is considered the cleanest of all nuclear reactions, no one can cancel the strong electron flows that activate the surrounding substances. But the most, perhaps, the main question is whether a thermonuclear reactor will really help us save electricity? After all, when we say that we get 20% more energy compared to the expended, this is true only in relation to the laser energy that hit the target. That is, conditionally, 1 megajoule hit the target, and 1.2 megajoules were released. But in fact, you need to look at how much the installation consumed energy from the outlet. These will be completely different numbers. All this is still very chilling with the idea that tomorrow we will have factories with thermonuclear controlled reactors.

– As far as I know, we, in Sarov, have also built a similar laser installation that sets fire to a target?

This facility is currently under construction. And there, too, the X-ray range of radiation will be used to compress the target, like the Americans, but there are some interesting developments. Work is still being carried out at an energy level of several kilojoules. In general, work related to thermonuclear fusion is being carried out here, at FIAN, and at the National Nuclear University MEPhI.

– What tasks do you solve at FIAN?

– We are conducting test experiments for a laser in Sarov and numerical calculations using multidimensional mathematical programs for compressing targets of various types.

– What was the main difficulty in reproducing thermonuclear fusion?

– There are two of them. The first is the problem of plasma stability. On paper, everything was beautiful, but life has made its own adjustments. It turned out that in reality it is very difficult to achieve a spherical compression of the target. Second, there was not enough laser power. Compared with the first experiments, today they are several hundred times more powerful.

– In the Livermore Laboratory, by the way, they reported that not everything went smoothly for them – the equipment was destroyed from a powerful explosion.

– This is not surprising. They will have to restore the installation for quite some time.

– Tell us a little about the former FIAN director Nikolai Basov.

– You can talk about it endlessly. But in short, much of what we have today, we owe to this man. This is the idea of ​​thermonuclear fusion, which is being implemented before our eyes, and satellite navigation. The first frequency standards, masers and lasers, are all his pioneering ideas.

In the light of the present time, it is very important to understand what kind of person Nikolai Gennadievich was. The fate of a native of the provincial town of Usman, Tambov province, was not easy. When he finished school, the war began, and he went to serve as an assistant paramedic. At the age of 30, together with Alexander Prokhorov, he formulated the idea of ​​the principles of maser-laser generation, which led both to the Nobel Prize. It is amazing that all the ideas proposed by Basov have come true, 100 percent.