A nuclear physics professor with ties to Ottawa says this week’s fusion announcement isn’t what some people are making it out to be. Ed Morse of the Univ. of California at Berkeley says the National Nuclear Security Administration oversaw the experiment to simulate nuclear weapon tests. The goal is to understand how nuclear weapons work without detonating them and without creating as much nuclear waste.
So the experiment isn’t opening an immediate path to fusion as an energy source. It’s also not conducting the fusion that happens in stars. Stars put hydrogen atoms together. The fusion at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory uses deuterium and tritium. Morse says the fusion that produces energy for society’s day-to-day needs will likely use lithium. Two lithium atoms put together are called dilithium.
Yes, there’s actually a real substance called dilithium. No, it’s not like the dilithium that powers starships and is central to plot crises on Star Trek.
Annie Kritcher is a former Berkeley student. Morse was one of her teachers. She directed the fusion experiment. Morse is glad to see how well she’s done.
While past success proclamations have turned out to be all fuss and no fusion, Morse believes the Livermore experiment is the real thing. He says it has been so well analyzed and is so well documented, everyone can be sure more energy came out than went in.
As for the Livermore project being connected to nuclear weapon research, Morse says don’t worry about it leading to fusion bombs. Those have been around for 70 years. And even though commercial energy production isn’t the goal, scientists will keep working on that.
Note: Morse’s mother, Bunny Morse, was a WCMY talk show host for many years until her retirement in the 1990’s.