Podcasts about llnl

Colonel Derek “Kiwi” Williams joins NucleCast for a wide‑ranging discussion on the evolving nuclear landscape and what it means for global security. Together, they examine recent developments in nuclear testing, including China's reported testing activities and the use of decoupling techniques, and assess their implications for strategic stability.The conversation also explores the consequences of the expiration of the New START treaty, debating whether the future points toward renewed arms control frameworks or an emerging arms race. Host Adam Lowther and Williams dive into the role of hydro nuclear testing and stockpile stewardship in maintaining confidence in nuclear forces, as well as why a credible nuclear deterrent remains central to national security.Throughout the episode, they unpack the enduring importance of the nuclear triad, the challenges of nuclear proliferation, and how deterrence strategies must adapt in an increasingly competitive strategic environment.Colonel Derek “Kiwi” Williams is a strategic planner in the Plans and Policy Directorate at U.S. Strategic Command. A U.S. Air Force Weapons School graduate, he has extensive experience in bomber operations, nuclear planning, and deterrence strategy, including leadership roles at Air Force Global Strike Command, the Air Staff, and as Director of Operations for the 23d Bomb Squadron. He is the founder of the School of Advanced Nuclear Deterrence Studies, a former Air Force Fellow at Sandia National Laboratories, and a fellow at the National Institute for Deterrence Studies. Colonel Williams holds advanced degrees in defense and strategic studies and aerospace engineering, with additional certifications in nuclear weapons policy, effects, and operations.Episode Correction: NNSA does Hydrodynamic experiments (weapon representative geometries) LLNL's Contained Firing Facility (CFF).Socials:Follow on Twitter at @NucleCastFollow on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/nuclecastpodcastSubscribe RSS Feed: https://rss.com/podcasts/nuclecast-podcast/Rate: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nuclecast/id1644921278Email comments and topic/guest suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.org

September 3rd, 2025Abdus Shaik, PhD student at Imperial College in London, gives this week's Fusion News update - summarizing behind the headlines of recent fusion energy news articles. Links to the stories discussed are included below.1. Commonwealth Fusion Systems raises $863 Millionhttps://cfs.energy/news-and-media/commonwealth-fusion-systems-raises-863-million-series-b2-round-to-accelerate-the-commercialization-of-fusion-energy 2. Inertia Enterprises Launches with DOE and LLNL supporthttps://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250826432256/en/Inertia-Enterprises-Launches-to-Commercialize-Fusion-Energy-Founded-by-Proven-Leaders-in-Business-and-Science3. Fusion funding and power purchase agreements ramp uphttps://www.theverge.com/news/766269/nuclear-fusion-project-map4. General Fusion raises $22 millionhttps://generalfusion.com/post/a-new-day-general-fusion-closes-oversubscribed-us22-million-financing-welcomes-new-board-members Bonus:https://www.fusionindustryassociation.org/over-2-5-billion-invested-in-fusion-industry-in-past-year/https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a65595434/china-super-steel/#Watch the episode on FIA's YouTube channel:https://youtu.be/GdPNiZ6NBHk

Is Kimi K2 actually better than Claude? In episode 64 of Mixture of Experts, host Tim Hwang is joined by Abraham Daniels, Chris Hay and Kaoutar El Maghraoui. First, Moonshot AI released Kimi K2, their trillion-parameter MoE model, and our experts analyze the benchmarks and what this really means. Then, we reflect on DeepSeek-R1 6 months later; did it live up to the hype? Next, Google is investing $25 billion in AI infrastructure, and it's not just AI chips. How does this compare to their competitors? Finally, Anthropic's Claude for Enterprise announced an expansion with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory —what AI safety concerns might this raise? Tune in to today's episode of Mixture of Experts to find out. 00:00 – Intro 01:18 – Kimi K2 12:07 – DeepSeek-R1 vibe check 28:49 – Google's data center investments 41:20 – Claude powers LLNL research The opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the views of IBM or any other organization or entity. Resources:Read more on how DeepSeek has changed the landscape of AI, six months after the watershed release of R1 → http://ibm.com/think/news/deepseek-global-ai-local Subscribe for AI updates → https://www.ibm.com/account/reg/us-en/signup?formid=news-urx-52120 Visit Mixture of Experts podcast page to get more AI content → https://www.ibm.com/think/podcasts/mixture-of-experts

Host Yolanda Fintschenko, executive director of Daybreak Labs and i-GATE Innovation Hub, home of the Startup Tri-Valley (STV) Initiative,  talks with Brian Spears, PhD, director of AI3, the AI Innovation Incubator at  Lawrence Livermore National Labs (LLNL), and one of our 2024 Tri-Valley AI Summit panelists. Brian is passionate about developing deep learning for applied science, especially inertial confinement fusion. A proud Tri-Valley resident,  as director of AI3, he focuses on building public-private partnerships to accelerate the development and application of AI. The goal of AI3 is to advance AI for applied science at scale. The AI3 expands LLNL's capabilities through industry collaborations, establishes visible leadership in AI for applied science, develops informed strategies for mission-driven AI investments, and coordinates investments focused on exploring and developing AI. Watch on YouTube .Below are links to sources of information referenced in this podcast:Learn more about AI3 and  AI at LLNL by visiting https://ai.llnl.gov/Visit the LLNL Careers page to find open positions at LLNL

Host Yolanda Fintschenko, executive director of Daybreak Labs and i-GATE Innovation Hub, home of the Startup Tri-Valley (STV) Initiative, speaks with Susan Houghton, Climate Resiliency and Carbon Management Portfolio Manager for the Livermore Lab Foundation (LLF), and David (Dave) Metz, partner at FM3 Research, and Katie Marcel, CEO of the Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group (ITV), about the inspiration for and outcomes from their most recent event, Decarbonizing our Economy, co-organized by the University of California, LLF, ITV, STV,  Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and Chabot-Las Positas Community College District (CLPCCD) in November of 2024. This episode reviews some of the key insights about direct carbon capture from the Roads to Removal Report written by LLNL and promoted by LLF, the Tri-Valley climate tech workforce survey conducted by FM3, and the needs of Tri-Valley industry and investors in the climate tech startup ecosystem revealed in that half day event. Learn how the Tri-Valley climate tech workforce needs compare to other regions, as well as important takeaways for the Tri-Valley region as it moves towards achieving California's net zero goals. Important links:Roads to Removal report - https://roads2removal.org2024 DECARBONIZING OUR ECONOMY ARTICLE,  IMAGES AND VIDEOWatch this episode

- DeepSeek, 1+5 lessons - Rack Scale Arch redux, Intel GPU roadmap change - LLNL and OpenAI, national security apps, fully on-prem? - Google and Kairos Power, Small Modular (nuclear) Reactors [audio mp3="https://orionx.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/HPCNB_20250203.mp3"][/audio] The post HPC News Bytes – 20250203 appeared first on OrionX.net.

- Beyond EUV lithography, LLNL, DOE - ASML, GPUs, China, trade sanctions - AI infrastructure build-out - TSMC 2nm Chips in 2025 [audio mp3="https://orionx.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/HPCNB_20250106.mp3"][/audio] The post HPC News Bytes – 20250106 appeared first on OrionX.net.

- Clinical trials for cancer fighting drug discovered by LLNL and BridgeBio - Sandia and Submer say immersing the whole rack can get big power savings - In defense of the CHIPS Act - New paper "Scalable MatMul-free Language Modeling" promises low memory low power AI [audio mp3="https://orionx.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/HPCNB_20240610.mp3"][/audio] The post HPC News Bytes – 20240610 appeared first on OrionX.net.

Bruce Tarter is Director Emeritus of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and was the eighth director to lead the Laboratory since it was founded in 1952. This episode covers the history and influence of the lab's technology on policy and strategy, the development of nuclear weapons, and the era of stockpile stewardship. It also delves into the challenges and wishes for the future of nuclear arms control.A theoretical physicist by training and experience, Bruce began his career at the Laboratory in 1967. As Director from 1994 to 2002 he led the Laboratory in its mission to ensure national security and apply science and technology to the important problems of our time. In particular he oversaw the development of stockpile stewardship during his tenure. Tarter received a SB from MIT and a PhD from Cornell. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and received the National Nuclear Security Administration's Gold Medal and the Secretary of Energy's Gold Award. He recently published “The American Lab” (Johns Hopkins University Press 2018) , a history of his Laboratory.Chapters00:00 Introduction to Lawrence Livermore National Lab and Bruce Tarter02:00 Influence of Technology on Policy and Strategy05:09 Development and Impact of Nuclear Weapons Technology16:18 The Era of Stockpile StewardshipSocials:Follow on Twitter at @NucleCastFollow on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/nuclecastpodcastSubscribe RSS Feed: https://rss.com/podcasts/nuclecast-podcast/Rate: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nuclecast/id1644921278Email comments and topic/guest suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.org

Host Yolanda Fintschenko, executive director of Daybreak Labs and i-GATE Innovation Hub,  and guest co-host Katie Marcel, CEO of  the Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group (ITV), talk with Drew Wong, PhD, a staff scientist  and materials engineer at  Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory  (LLNL),  about his work on the Roads to Removal Report, a new nationwide report on carbon dioxiode removal options that is being shared broadly by the Livermore Lab Foundation.  It's both innovative and inspiring work that's designed to help us all understand the options in achieving net neutrality by 2050.  Hungry for knowledge, Drew is passionate about learning from and alongside others.  He enjoys identifying large scale problems like energy and climate change and developing creative solutions that will improve quality of life and impact our global community. Drew believes that an analytical understanding of materials and an intuitive vision for their application will be a cornerstone for innovations in technology, healthcare, energy, climate and beyond.Below are links to sources of information referenced in this podcast:Visit roads2removal.org to read the report and stay informed about upcoming events. Visit the LLNL Careers page to find open positions at LLNL.You can view this episode on our Startup Tri-Valley YouTube channel. 

Dr. Bruce Goodwin, a retired Senior Laboratory Fellow in the Center for Global Security Research of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, discusses his publication 'Nuclear Weapons Technology 101 for Policy Wonks' and the importance of understanding nuclear weapons design. He emphasizes the need for technical experts to communicate effectively with policy wonks and non-technical audiences, highlighting the importance of listening and avoiding jargon. Goodwin also discusses the challenges of sustaining a credible stockpile stewardship program and attracting the best and brightest to the nuclear field. He concludes by emphasizing the importance of nuclear deterrence in maintaining peace.From 2013 to 2016, Bruce was the Associate Director for National Security Policy Research in charge of the National Security Office (now the Office of Defense Coordination) and the Center for Global Security Research. From 2001 until 2013, he was the Principal Associate Director of the Nuclear Weapons Program at LLNL. Before that he was a nuclear weapons designer.Socials:Follow on Twitter at @NucleCastFollow on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/nuclecastpodcastSubscribe RSS Feed: https://rss.com/podcasts/nuclecast-podcast/Rate: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nuclecast/id1644921278Email comments and topic/guest suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.org

What is nuclear fusion?Nuclear fusion produces energy by fusing atoms together. Atomic cores (nuclei) merge together to form a heavier—though unstable—nucleus, releasing mass to regain stability. This mass release corresponds to an energy release, given Einstein's equation E=mc2, which says in part that mass and energy can be converted into each other. The sun, along with all other stars, uses nuclear fusion to generate energy, which is released as heat and light. The 2022 Fusion Breakthrough In late 2022, scientists led by Dr. Annie Kritcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) briefly replicated the power of the sun. Replicating the sun's power requires replicating the extreme heat and density conditions within the sun's core. Atomic cores are positively charged, meaning they repel each other. To overcome this barrier, scientists need to apply massive amounts of heat and keep atomic cores extremely close together. For the first time, scientists produced more energy from fusion than the amount of energy it took to maintain these conditions. Fusion is a greenhouse-gas-free source of potentially unlimited electricity, powered by hydrogen we can take from water, and creating no long-lived radioactive waste. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, fusion generates four times more energy per kilogram than the fission used for powering nuclear plants, and nearly 4 million times more energy than burning fossil fuels for energy. What's Next?Commercial nuclear fusion is still a long way off. While the physics aspect of fusion is “solved,” fusion remains a complicated engineering problem. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has the most powerful laser in the world to blast heat at atoms, but it is the size of three football stadiums, very old, slow, inefficient, and clunky. There are still unanswered questions, such as how to affordably capture fusion energy, and how to keep a fusion reaction going for a long period of time. And although the laser shots at the NIF were weaker than its fusion output, the amount of energy drawn from the grid to create those lasers is 120 times more than the fusion output generated at LLNL. About Dr. Annie KritcherDr. Annie Kritcher is a nuclear engineer and physicist at the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Weapons and Complex Integration's Design Physics Division. She led the recent nuclear fusion breakthrough at LLNL. In 2022, Kritcher was elected fellow of the American Physical Society. She earned her PhD at UC Berkeley. Further ReadingA shot for the ages: Fusion ignition breakthrough hailed as ‘one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century' | Lawrence Livermore National LaboratoryUK Power Grid Could Have First Commercial Fusion Reactor By 2030sWorld's largest nuclear fusion reactor promises clean energy, but the challenges are huge - ABC NewsAnnie Kritcher leads revolutionary nuclear fusion experimentIAEA, What is nuclear fusion?NOVA Now Universe Revealed Podcast, Can We Recreate the Power of Stars Down on Earth? (YouTube or NOVA Podcast website) For a transcript, please visit https://climatebreak.org/the-clean-energy-potential-of-nuclear-fusion-with-annie-kritcher/

This episode features Dave Rehbein, a retired Army FA-52 nuclear officer, about the differences between tactical and strategic nuclear weapons. They discuss the misconception that all nuclear weapons are the same and explore the effects and scale of different types of nuclear weapons. They also touch on the importance of understanding radiation and fallout, as well as the potential scenarios in which tactical nuclear weapons may be employed. The conversation concludes with a discussion on the W76-2 and the need for a clear definition of tactical nuclear weapons.Takeaways:There are significant differences between tactical and strategic nuclear weapons, including their effects, scale, and intended use.Understanding radiation and fallout is crucial in assessing the impact of nuclear weapons.Tactical nuclear weapons can be employed in specific scenarios to achieve strategic objectives.The W76-2, while providing a low-yield option, has limitations in terms of delivery and responsiveness.Prior to becoming an independent consultant, Dave was the primary technical liaison for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) at the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) at Offutt AFB, NE. He served in that capacity for 15 years. Dave joined LLNL after retiring from the U.S. Army. He was a Corps of Engineers officer with specialized expertise in Nuclear Operations and Research. His areas of expertise are nuclear weapons technology, weapons effects, and deterrence theory. In his final active-duty Army assignment Dave served as the Commander of the US Army Element of US Strategic Command and as the Chief of Force Assessments at USSTRATCOM.Socials:Follow on Twitter at @NucleCastFollow on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/nuclecastpodcastSubscribe RSS Feed: https://rss.com/podcasts/nuclecast-podcast/Rate: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nuclecast/id1644921278Email comments and topic/guest suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.org

In this episode of Nuclecast, Adam Lowther interviews Kim Budil, Director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). They discuss various topics related to LLNL's work in nuclear weapons design and modernization. The conversation covers the achievement of ignition, the recruitment and retention of talent, the role of the National Ignition Facility, workforce challenges, modernization and manufacturing efforts, safety and security of warheads, other programs at LLNL, integrated deterrence and multi-domain operations, knowledge transfer and training, and Budil's wishes for the lab. Budil highlights the importance of LLNL's work in national security and the exciting opportunities it offers for aspiring scientists and engineers.Socials:Follow on Twitter at @NucleCastFollow on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/nuclecastpodcastSubscribe RSS Feed: https://rss.com/podcasts/nuclecast-podcast/Rate: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nuclecast/id1644921278Email comments and topic/guest suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.org

Dr. Zachary S. Davis is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and a Research Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, where he teaches courses on counterproliferation. He has broad experience in intelligence and national security policy and has held senior positions in the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government. His regional focus is South Asia.Davis began his career at the Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress and has served with the State Department, Congressional committees, and the National Security Council. Davis was group leader for proliferation networks in LLNL's Z Program and in 2007 he was Senior Advisor at the National Counter Proliferation Center, in the office of the Director of National Intelligence. He is the author of numerous government studies and reports on technical and regional proliferation issues. He leads a project on the national security implications of advanced technologies, focusing on special operations forces.EPISODE NOTES:Follow NucleCast on Twitter at @NucleCastEmail comments and story suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.orgSubscribe to NucleCast podcastRate the show

Fusion News: November 15, 2023 Dr. Leigh Ann Kesler, a nuclear engineer and fusion consultant specializing in science communication, gives an update on the global development of fusion energy. Links to all the stories mentioned are given below. 1. First plasma fired up at world's largest fusion reactor: https://www.science.org/content/article/first-plasma-fired-world-s-largest-fusion-reactor 2. Fusion Diary: the spherical tokamak story: https://asiatimes.com/2023/11/fusion-diary-the-spherical-tokamak-story/ 3. Focused Energy Partners with LLNL on a Target Design for Inertial Fusion Energy: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231107594701/en/Focused-Energy-Partners-with-LLNL-on-a-Target-Design-for-Inertial-Fusion-Energy 4. Petition calls on UK to save JET fusion experiment from closure: https://physicsworld.com/a/petition-calls-on-uk-to-save-jet-fusion-experiment-from-closure/#:~:text=More%20than%20750%20people%20have,fusion%20reactor%20in%20early%202024. 5. Joint Statement Between DOE and the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero Concerning a Strategic Partnership to Accelerate Fusion: https://www.energy.gov/articles/joint-statement-between-doe-and-uk-department-energy-security-and-net-zero-concerning#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20Department%20of%20Energy,and%20commercialization%20of%20fusion%20energy. Bonuses: 1. Nuclear fusion, new drugs, better batteries: how AI will transform science: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/audio/2023/nov/02/nuclear-fusion-new-drugs-better-batteries-how-ai-will-transform-science-podcast 2. Pursuing fusion power: https://knowablemagazine.org/article/physical-world/2023/the-challenge-of-fusion-power 3. China completes ITER magnet support components: https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/China-completes-ITER-magnet-support-components

For the past 40 years, Tom Ramos has been a physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). For the past few years Tom has been conducting research and writing a history of the early years of the Cold War, and the nuclear weapons program of LLNL. Through interviews with historical figures and with extensive research into top secret archives, he has brought out new perspectives of the Cold War that have been little understood until now. His efforts were rewarded with the publication of his book, From Berkeley to Berlin.Tom created several programs in the 1990s that served the Defense Department. Most notable among them, starting with a $200K grant, Tom created the Counterproliferation Analysis and Planning System (CAPS), which helped military operators analyze facilities manufacturing weapons of mass destruction in hostile countries. The program grew into a $46M a year enterprise and was declared to be the Defense Department's premier counterproliferation program by Secretary of Defense William Cohen. Another significant program that Tom started was the Homeland Defense Operational Planning System (HOPS), a program like CAPS, but steered towards analyses to protect America's critical infrastructure.In the 1980's Tom was a nuclear weapons designer in the Laboratory's X-Ray Laser Program, which supported President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative. In the program's last nuclear test, Tom led a team of physicists who designed the program's brightest laser. In the late 1980s Tom joined a committee helping to prepare the government for START negotiations and he prepared a daily summary sheet for the Secretary of Energy to use at NSC meetings on the resumption of START Talks. Later Tom was assigned to the Pentagon as the legislative affairs officer for the Congressionally mandated Nuclear Weapons Council. Tom's duties included preparing the Council for Congressional hearings.Prior to joining the Laboratory, and after graduating from West Point and MIT, Tom served as a combat engineer and was later an associate professor of physics at West Point, New York, where he taught each of the physics department's core courses, as well as electives in Quantum Mechanics and Nuclear Physics.EPISODE NOTES:Follow NucleCast on Twitter at @NucleCastEmail comments and story suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.orgSubscribe to NucleCast podcastRate the show

For the past 40 years, Tom Ramos has been a physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). For the past few years Tom has been conducting research and writing a history of the early years of the Cold War, and the nuclear weapons program of LLNL. Through interviews with historical figures and with extensive research into top secret archives, he has brought out new perspectives of the Cold War that have been little understood until now. His efforts were rewarded with the publication of his book, From Berkeley to Berlin.Tom created several programs in the 1990s that served the Defense Department. Most notable among them, starting with a $200K grant, Tom created the Counterproliferation Analysis and Planning System (CAPS), which helped military operators analyze facilities manufacturing weapons of mass destruction in hostile countries. The program grew into a $46M a year enterprise and was declared to be the Defense Department's premier counterproliferation program by Secretary of Defense William Cohen. Another significant program that Tom started was the Homeland Defense Operational Planning System (HOPS), a program like CAPS, but steered towards analyses to protect America's critical infrastructure.In the 1980's Tom was a nuclear weapons designer in the Laboratory's X-Ray Laser Program, which supported President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative. In the program's last nuclear test, Tom led a team of physicists who designed the program's brightest laser. In the late 1980s Tom joined a committee helping to prepare the government for START negotiations and he prepared a daily summary sheet for the Secretary of Energy to use at NSC meetings on the resumption of START Talks. Later Tom was assigned to the Pentagon as the legislative affairs officer for the Congressionally mandated Nuclear Weapons Council. Tom's duties included preparing the Council for Congressional hearings.Prior to joining the Laboratory, and after graduating from West Point and MIT, Tom served as a combat engineer and was later an associate professor of physics at West Point, New York, where he taught each of the physics department's core courses, as well as electives in Quantum Mechanics and Nuclear Physics.EPISODE NOTES:Follow NucleCast on Twitter at @NucleCastEmail comments and story suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.orgSubscribe to NucleCast podcastRate the show

Dr. Howard Hall is the Director for the UT Institute for Nuclear Security. He holds a joint appointment with Consolidated Nuclear Security (Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, TN, and the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, TX), and serves as Professor in both the Department of Nuclear Engineering and the Bredesen Center For Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education. Professor Hall is also a Senior Fellow in Global Security Policy at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee.Professor Hall received his Ph.D. in Nuclear and Radiochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1989; and his BS in Chemistry from the College of Charleston in 1985. Prior to joining UT, Dr. Hall spent more than 20 years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Northern California, where he led major scientific and operational missions in nuclear and homeland security. During his tenure at LLNL, Dr. Hall led efforts supporting US Government programs in aviation safety and security, nuclear threat detection and nuclear emergency response.In 2005, Dr. Hall was part of the team awarded the Department of Homeland Security/Science and Technology Directorate Under Secretary's Award for Science. Professor Hall is a member of the American Nuclear Society, the American Physical Society, the American Chemical Society, the American Society for Engineering Education, the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management, and holds the rank of Fellow in the American Institute of Chemists and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.EPISODE NOTES:Follow NucleCast on Twitter at @NucleCastEmail comments and story suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.orgSubscribe to NucleCast podcastRate the show

Host Yolanda Fintschenko, executive director of Daybreak Labs and i-GATE Innovation Hub, talks with  plasma physicist, Tammy Ma, PhD, Lead of the Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) Institutional Initiative at Lawrence Livermore National Labs (LLNL).  Tammy is an experimental laser-plasma physicist at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the LLNL. Besides doing experiments on the world's largest, most energetic laser in pursuit of thermonuclear fusion, her current role also encompasses many science outreach activities, including public talks and lectures and media interviews.Providing for the world's energy needs is one of the most challenging and urgent issues facing society today. If we can demonstrate sustainable fusion burn — the same reaction that occurs in the sun — we will lay the path toward a clean, abundant energy source for all mankind.On Dec. 5, 2022, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory recorded a fusion breakthrough at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). 12 years of research culminated in ignition. This historic milestone has prompted global attention and recognition for the LLNL team. Locally, LLNL has been recognized by Innovation Tri-Valley as a GameChangers 2023 award recipient for this critical step  on the path to using inertial fusion ignition as a source of limitless renewable clean energy. Below are links to sources of information referenced in this podcast:Visit the NIF display at the Discover Center at LLNLVisit the LLNL Careers page to find open positions at LLNLKeep up with news about NIFVisit the National Ignition facility web page

A new study by a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientist and collaborators shows that nearly all the recent increase in California summer wildfire burned area is attributable to human-caused (anthropogenic) climate change. Anthropogenic simulations yielded burn areas an average of 172% higher than natural variation simulations. The research appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Tune in as we talk with one of the co-authors of the article, Dr. Don Lucas.

A new study by a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientist and collaborators shows that nearly all the recent increase in California summer wildfire burned area is attributable to human-caused (anthropogenic) climate change. Anthropogenic simulations yielded burn areas an average of 172% higher than natural variation simulations. The research appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Tune in as we talk with one of the co-authors of the article, Dr. Don Lucas.

What is nuclear fusion?Nuclear fusion produces energy by fusing atoms together. Atomic cores (nuclei) merge together to form a heavier—though unstable—nucleus, releasing mass to regain stability. This mass release corresponds to an energy release, given Einstein's equation E=mc2, which says in part that mass and energy can be converted into each other. The sun, along with all other stars, uses nuclear fusion to generate energy, which is released as heat and light. The 2022 Fusion Breakthrough In late 2022, scientists led by Dr. Annie Kritcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) briefly replicated the power of the sun. Replicating the sun's power requires replicating the extreme heat and density conditions within the sun's core. Atomic cores are positively charged, meaning they repel each other. To overcome this barrier, scientists need to apply massive amounts of heat and keep atomic cores extremely close together. For the first time, scientists produced more energy from fusion than the amount of energy it took to maintain these conditions. Fusion is a greenhouse-gas-free source of potentially unlimited electricity, powered by hydrogen we can take from water, and creating no long-lived radioactive waste. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, fusion generates four times more energy per kilogram than the fission used for powering nuclear plants, and nearly 4 million times more energy than burning fossil fuels for energy. What's Next?Commercial nuclear fusion is still a long way off. While the physics aspect of fusion is “solved,” fusion remains a complicated engineering problem. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has the most powerful laser in the world to blast heat at atoms, but it is the size of three football stadiums, very old, slow, inefficient, and clunky. There are still unanswered questions, such as how to affordably capture fusion energy, and how to keep a fusion reaction going for a long period of time. And although the laser shots at the NIF were weaker than its fusion output, the amount of energy drawn from the grid to create those lasers is 120 times more than the fusion output generated at LLNL. About Dr. Annie KritcherDr. Annie Kritcher is a nuclear engineer and physicist at the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Weapons and Complex Integration's Design Physics Division. She led the recent nuclear fusion breakthrough at LLNL. In 2022, Kritcher was elected fellow of the American Physical Society. She earned her PhD at UC Berkeley. Further ReadingA shot for the ages: Fusion ignition breakthrough hailed as ‘one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century' | Lawrence Livermore National LaboratoryUK Power Grid Could Have First Commercial Fusion Reactor By 2030sWorld's largest nuclear fusion reactor promises clean energy, but the challenges are huge - ABC NewsAnnie Kritcher leads revolutionary nuclear fusion experimentIAEA, What is nuclear fusion?NOVA Now Universe Revealed Podcast, Can We Recreate the Power of Stars Down on Earth? (YouTube or NOVA Podcast website)

LLNL hiring needs, while focused on scientists and engineers, are quite broad as the Lab is a self-contained city with nearly 9k employees. Frank Trigueros, Talent Acquisition Group Leader, talks why cleared professionals should never burn bridges, SkillBridge opportunities, internships, and more.“You can have a multi-dimensional career at the laboratory. You may come in and start doing one thing, then after a couple of years there could be another project that could be something completely different, where you're still leveraging maybe a component of your skills. Or you've learned things and drawn knowledge through your time at the lab that you can pivot and leverage it in another area. That's what's great. If you really want to stay with us long term, your path can take a lot of different areas.”Find show notes and additional links at: https://clearedjobs.net/lawrence-livermore-national-laboratory-podcast/

Mark C. Herrmann, Ph.D. Program Director for the Weapon Physics and Design within Weapons and Complex Integration Directorate Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Dr. Herrmann leads LLNL's efforts to strengthen our nation's nuclear deterrent by advancing our understanding of nuclear weapons physics and design. This includes the physics design, assessment, and certification efforts for the enduring LLNL systems (W80, B83, W87), the W80-4 Life Extension Program, and the W87-1 Modification program. He also leads weapon science research and development, including focused experiments, integral hydrodynamic and subcritical experiments, high-energy-density (HED) experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF), and modeling and simulation using NNSA's high performance computing capabilities. Dr. Herrmann has been in this role since January 2022. Charles W. Nakhleh, Ph.D. Associate Laboratory Director for Weapons Physics (ALDX) Los Alamos National Laboratory. In this role, Dr. Nakhleh has line responsibility for the nuclear weapons designers and simulation code architects at the Laboratory, as well as program responsibility for the NA-11 weapons science, computing, and technology maturation portfolio. Prior to taking on his current role, he was the Executive Officer to the Deputy Director for Weapons (DDW), where he was responsible to the DDW for integrating and aligning activities across the weapons program.

1) Wayne's background and a celebration of the one-year anniversary of his current role at General Atomics 2) A detailed explanation of a tokamak device and what it means in the space of fusion power 3) General Atomics' leadership in the magnetic fusion energy field, as well as their involvement in the recent fusion breakthrough at LLNL 4) Talking points to showcase nuclear energy's potential to those who aren't familiar with the technology

In late 2022, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory made a long-sought breakthrough, achieving self-sustaining “fusion ignition” for the first time and generating breakeven energy. Supporters see fusion as a game changer for production of unlimited clean energy that can help to address climate change globally.  Please join us for a conversation with Dr. Kimberly Budil, director of Lawrence Livermore, about the significance of this achievement. Dr. Budil is the 13th director of Lawrence Livermore. A physicist, she is an expert on high-power, ultra-fast lasers. She has held previous positions at the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Energy. She is the first woman to serve as LLNL director, and is one of the leading female scientists in the United States. We look forward to seeing you for an inspiring evening with one of the Bay Area's key scientific leaders, discussing where Lawrence Livermore's fusion research could lead and how long it might take to positively impact our energy future. SPEAKERS Kim Budil Director, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Katie Hafner Journalist; Host and Co-Executive Producer, "Lost Women of Science"—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on March 27th, 2023 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Imagine a world with free and unlimited clean energy. That's the musings of a great science fiction story. But nuclear fusion (the kind that powers the sun) has always been close at hand, we see the sun every day, and yet impossibly far away as a technology. We took a major step towards this becoming a reality with the folks at the Lawrence Livermore National Labratory in the US achieved "ignition" where they got significantly more energy out than they put in. And Python played a major role in this research and experiment. We have Jay Salmonson here to give us a look at the science and the Python code of this discovery. Links from the show Jay on Mastodon: hachyderm.io/@jdsalmonson Jay on Twitter: @JaySalmonson Official Announcement: lasers.llnl.gov QnD Package: github.com PlasmaPy: plasmapy.org ML in Fusion: llnl.gov National Ignition Facility Achieves Ignition in Historic Nuclear Fusion Experiment: newenergytimes.net Video demonstrating the fusion lab: youtube.com Watch this episode on YouTube: youtube.com Episode transcripts: talkpython.fm --- Stay in touch with us --- Subscribe to us on YouTube: youtube.com Follow Talk Python on Mastodon: talkpython Follow Michael on Mastodon: mkennedy Sponsors Taipy User Interviews Talk Python Training

The news of a major nuclear fusion breakthrough seemed to break the internet last month - we've all got questions, and we're all so excited about this new potential renewable energy source. I'm deeply honored to be joined by Dr. Tammy Ma, Lead Scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility, to discuss this scientific milestone. Dr. Ma explains the significance of this ignition reaction for the scientific and energy communities, challenges to scale, and the incredible potential benefits of energy access worldwide. Dr. Tammy Ma earned her bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from Caltech in 2005, then received her master's degree in 2008, and Ph.D. in 2010, both from the University of California, San Diego. Following graduate school, she completed a postdoc at LLNL before becoming a staff scientist in 2012. Ma was recently awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on early-career science and engineering professionals. She also received the American Physical Society 2016 Thomas H. Stix Award for Outstanding Early Career Contributions to Plasma Physics Research. Articles for your nuclear fusion curiosities: Scientists Achieve Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough With Blast of 192 Lasers (NY Times) Why nuclear fusion is so exciting (Harvard Gazette) DOE National Laboratory Makes History by Achieving Fusion Ignition (US Dept of Energy) Thanks to our sponsor! Use code ECOCHIC60 for 60% at GreenChef.com/ECOCHIC60 PS - I'm hiring! Email your resume to me at laura@lauraediez.com with a blurb about why you'd feel you'd be a good fit to support ECO CHIC's PR/marketing. Meet me online - @ecochicpodcast on Instagram + @lauraediez on Tiktok.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fusion power, clean and limitless, long elusive to scientists, may be headed our way sooner than many suspected thanks to a breakthrough experiment in early December at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) in California. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Annie Kritcher, the physicist who designed the successful experiment that recreated the energy source of the sun.She explained: “What we're doing here is essentially creating a miniature star in a lab about the size of a human hair to half the size of the human hair. We have 192 giant lasers and when we say giant, that means that the whole system that is used to create this laser energy and all the details associated with it, it's the size of three football fields when you put all of the 192 laser beams together.”  Fusion research has been going on for decades, but the December experiment is a significant breakthrough and represents a new approach. “The thing that's different this time is that for the first time we've actually demonstrated in the laboratory that we can achieve fusion energy gain in a controlled way. Before that, we've never actually generated fusion energy output that was controlled in a laboratory setting. This result motivates and is a proof of principal for all the different approaches out there,” said Kritcher.That increases the likelihood of success.“There's also a huge resurgence in the number of people working in this area and the different approaches that are being looked at and when you have that many people looking at a problem, the progress is highly accelerated.”Dr. Annie Kritcher is the design lead within the Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) team as part of the National Ignition Facility at LLNL. Dr. Kritcher started at LLNL as a summer intern in 2004. She earned a PhD in Nuclear Engineering and Plasma Physics and a MS Nuclear Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. Annie earned her BS in Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences at the University of Michigan.

1) Tammy's scientific background and how an LLNL outreach event influenced the career trajectory of her highschool self 2) A deep dive into the National Ignition Facility and some of the momentous experiments Tammy has been a part of 3) An explanation of fusion reactions, lasers, and the various components involved in the recent fusion breakthrough 4) Lawrence Livermore's mission to create a fusion industry that is equitable, diverse, and just

Matt Matern chats with Bruno Van Wonterghem from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Bruno discusses his background in laser science and the recent breakthrough at the National Ignition Facility (NIF), which achieved fusion ignition, a key step for national security and clean energy. LLNL's mission includes maintaining the U.S. nuclear stockpile with advanced technologies.  Bruno emphasizes the need for ongoing improvements and funding, highlighting global collaboration and the potential for practical fusion energy production.

What if I told you that you could do velocity, acceleration, friction, rotations, impulse and momentum, pressure, sound, color, and magnetic field labs all with a single measurement device? And what if I told you that almost every student is walking into the classroom with their own device already in hand? Welcome to Physics with Phones curriculum. Each lesson details activities using built-in smartphone sensors to illustrate key physics concepts, including elevation, g force, and angular velocity. David Rakestraw, a senior science advisor at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab, has put together many lessons that are freely available online. He's here to talk about how he got involved with this technology, what sensors our students can access, and how we can use these in our classes. Full show notes available at: www.physicsalive.com/phones   Webpage for Physics with Phones https://st.llnl.gov/sci-ed/Physics-with-Phones David Rakestraw is a senior science advisor at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) in California. A multi-program national security laboratory, its primary stated mission is to enhance the nation's defense and reduce the global threat from terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. Prior to LLNL, he spent 12 years at Sandia National Laboratories, where he engaged in a wide range of research and development activities. He even co-founded a company that specialized in applying microfluidics for chemical analysis. Today, he's not going to talk about any of that! Instead, this conversation will be all about doing physics with phone sensors. Physics with Phones is a series of presentations outlining a wide range of experiments that are well-aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards. These were developed for the classroom, but many can be done by students in their own homes.  Learn more about David from his alumni biography: https://www.onu.edu/alumni-profiles/david-rakestraw-bs-83 Webpage for Physics with Phones https://st.llnl.gov/sci-ed/Physics-with-Phones See even more opportunities at LLNL's Teacher Research Academy https://st.llnl.gov/sci-ed/teacher-research-academy  

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) recently announced the achievement of fusion ignition at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) — a major scientific breakthrough decades in the making that will pave the way for advancements in national defense and the future of clean power. On Dec. 5, a team at LLNL's National Ignition Facility (NIF) conducted the first controlled fusion experiment in history to reach this milestone, also known as scientific energy breakeven, meaning it produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it. This first-of-its-kind feat will provide unprecedented capability to support NNSA's Stockpile Stewardship Program and will provide invaluable insights into the prospects of clean fusion energy, which would be a game-changer for efforts to achieve President Biden's goal of a net-zero carbon economy. “This is a landmark achievement for the researchers and staff at the National Ignition Facility who have dedicated their careers to seeing fusion ignition become a reality, and this milestone will undoubtedly spark even more discovery,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. https://lasers.llnl.gov/ Charles Seife, a professor of journalism at NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, has been writing about physics and mathematics for two decades. He is a critic of the hype surrounding fusion. He is the author of nine books books, SUN IN A BOTTLE AND including Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea (2000), which won the 2000 PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction; Proofiness: The Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception (2010); and a forthcoming biography of physicist Stephen Hawking (2021). Before arriving at NYU, Seife was a writer for Science magazine and had been a U.S. correspondent for New Scientist. His writing has also appeared in The Economist, Scientific American, ProPublica, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Discover, Slate, Smithsonian, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and numerous other publications. He has also been a scientific consultant and writer for television documentaries about science and mathematics. Seife holds an A.B. in mathematics from Princeton University, an M.S. in mathematics from Yale University, and an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University https://www.charlesseife.org/ Connect with Professor Keating:

Last week, LLNL's National Ignition Facility successfully 'ignited' a nuclear fusion reaction equivalent to what takes place in the sun: the conversion of hydrogen to helium + energy. In a first, the experiment produced more energy than was needed to initiate the reaction. While the experiment lasted only fractions of a second, it proved what had been hypothesized since the 1960's: that lasers can be used to induce energy-generating fusion in a laboratory setting. The enormity of this achievement is that it brings the possibility of cheap, clean and safe nuclear fusion energy one step closer to reality. Joined by guest hosts Julio Friedman and Darren Hau, Climate Now sat down with Dr. Annie Kritcher, the principal designer for the successful fusion experiment, to discuss what they have accomplished, why it was so significant, and what the National Ignition Facility will be focusing on next in their work to make nuclear fusion a viable energy source.Key Questions:What was the experiment that was performed, and why was it's success so significant?What are the next set of challenges to address in developing nuclear fusion as a clean energy source?Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.Contact us at contact@climatenow.comVisit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode.

Settimana ricchissima di novità scientifiche!Iniziamo con la notizia che più ha fatto scalpore: alla National Ignition Facility (NIF) è stato fatto un passo in avanti per quanto riguarda la fusione nucleare. La fusione nucleare è un processo che avviene naturalmente nel Sole e che, se replicato sulla Terra in modo controllato, ci potrebbe portare a produrre energia pulita. Un passo in avanti è stato fatto, ma non è tutto oro ciò che luccica (o implode!) e la strada per la ricerca è ancora molto lunga. Ce ne parlano i conduttori di questo episodio: Andrea e Giuliana.Per saperne di più: https://www.llnl.gov/news/national-ignition-facility-achieves-fusion-ignition.Nell'intervento esterno Giorgio intervista Alessandro Strada, dottorando presso il Politecnico di Milano e il CNR. Alessandro ci parlerà di vescicole extracellulari. Questi “messaggeri” presenti nel nostro corpo sono protagonisti di un filone di ricerca che comprende molte discipline diverse, ricerca di base e ricerca applicata, e potrebbe portare a importanti novità nell'ambito diagnostico e di cura delle malattie.Per saperne di più:https://www.evitasociety.org/https://www.isev.org/Tornati in studio, e dopo la consueta barza, Giuliana e Andrea discutono di una una interessante ricerca appena pubblicata su Nature: per la prima volta è stato simulato un wormhole usando un computer quantistico. Cos'è un wormhole, cosa c'entra coi buchi neri e cosa è stato fatto esattamente?Per approfondire: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05424-3

The U.S. Department of Energy and the DOE's National Security Administration announced today that "fusion ignition" had been achieved on December 5, 2022, at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. They are calling it the "scientific energy breakeven" - when more energy is produced from fusion than from the laser energy used to drive the experiment. Carried out at the National Ignition Facility, "LLNL'S experiment surpassed the fusion thresh-hold by delivering 2.05 megajoules (MJ) of energy to the target, resulting in 3.15 MJ of fusion energy output..." Touted as a breakthrough in "clean fusion energy" the DOE says it is progress towards a "net-zero carbon economy" using a process of "inertial confinement fusion", whereby a tiny pellet of hydrogen plasma is bombarded with lasers. It has also been referred to as a ‘Holy Grail' able to provide unlimited clean energy, giving the achievement a mystical element akin to the climate activist who smashed tablets on Mt. Sinai recently. Realistically though it may take up to several decades before the fusion reaction results could be scaled upward and used to replace all current forms of energy. If such an achievement has actually be reached and unlimited clean energy with no carbon and no radioactive waste can be developed within a few decades then the world is about to change dramatically with only a little hydrogen fuel able to power cars, houses, etc., for hundreds of years. However, despite the DOE's announcement, the media has reminded us that we should not forget about Climate Change and green technology. The DOE also said the technology would be implemented equitably with a diverse and inclusive workforce. Does this means psychotic, mentally-ill, thieves like Sam Brinton, formerly at the DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy, will be in charge? According the Kardashev scale of energy consumption, harnessing the power of a star, as we now may be able to do, elevates us from a Type I civilization, one harnessing the power of a planet, to a Type II civilization. In other words, a civilization changing advancement, in league with China's artificial sun which achieved 17 minutes of sustained fusion in late 2021-2022, is been reduced to political correctness, with the credit largely being given to a man with dementia in the White House. It's almost as if limitless fusion-generate energy with no byproduct could be a sophisticated form of propaganda to rejuvenate us to investing in the green new deal. What about the dangers of proliferation and of the implications that man could hold the power of a sun in the palm of his hand, thereby becoming God? Ironically, on December 2, the US Air Force unveiled the B-21 Raider, its first new bomber in over 30 years, designed to use weapons that haven't been invented yet. Beyond that is the concern over proliferation, as we have been warned about for decades in cartoons, comics, movies, and television shows. From Spiderman and Batman to the video games Fallout and old animated movies like Atlantis, we have fictional warnings about clean energy, usually nuclear, turned into a weapon. In the Twilight Zone aliens offer unlimited energy to help cure disease and climate problem, but only with 'To Serve Man' for dinner. Beyond the scientific is the occult, with the Livermore experiment being referred to as the 'Holy Grail' - an object that has an ability to touch God and heal the Planet. This is a process of alchemical transformation at its core, turning a little into abundance like Jesus with 5 loaves and 2 fish. It also has the ability to call upon advanced life in the universe, especially as 2022 marks the 75th anniversary of Roswell, an even that occurred just a few years after the first atomic bombs detonated.Here we are tapping into other worlds with fusion and quantum computers, intentionally or unintentionally opening gateways as we merge heaven and earth with the power of the sun in the palm of our hands.

Physicists have pursued the technology for decades as it promises a potential source of near-limitless clean energy. They say there is still some way to go before fusion powers homes. As China eases covid restrictions we discuss plans by U-S vaccine maker Moderna to enter the Chinese market. We find out if any of the investors in the crypto exchange FTX will get their money back. And what sort of money will Morocco make after its sucess in the World Cup. Sam Fenwick discusses these and more business news throughout the programme with two guests on opposite sides of the world: Frank Tsai Editor of the Shanghai Review in China and Shannon Najmabadi a reporter at the Colorado Sun in the United States. (Picture: The interior of the target chamber at LLNL, where nuclear fusion takes place. Credit: Philip Saltonstall)

Seventh and eighth grade students from Kastner Intermediate School were prohibited by their principal and area superintendent from attending a school show of “Oliver” on Friday because of concerns about “violence, alcohol use and thievery.”   The audience felt “strange,” one staff member Said. There were loud whispers and a strained atmosphere. At intermission, the tension grew as adult audience members – teachers and chaperones – gathered in the lobby. Rumors started to fly. One approached a CMT staff member and asked: “Is there a hanging? We heard there was a hanging. In the second act A group of 116 audience members, first graders from River Bluff Elementary School in the Central Unified School District, stood up at the direction of teachers and were herded out of the theater during the performance  Joel C. Abels, founder of Children's Musical Theaterworks, produced “Oliver” at Clovis North High School 10 years ago with full approval of the administration.    Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory may have achieved a remarkable new high point for fusion reactions, generating even more energy than was pumped in during a recent experiment. Fusion is the reaction that powers our sun and it works by smashing two atoms together.  In short, if we could harness fusion power, it would revolutionize energy, allowing us to generate clean power without pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.  A major announcement is scheduled to take place at LLNL on Tuesday, Dec. 13. It's expected to be livestreamed by the Department of Energy at approximately 7 a.m. PT. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Seventh and eighth grade students from Kastner Intermediate School were prohibited by their principal and area superintendent from attending a school show of “Oliver” on Friday because of concerns about “violence, alcohol use and thievery.”   The audience felt “strange,” one staff member Said. There were loud whispers and a strained atmosphere. At intermission, the tension grew as adult audience members – teachers and chaperones – gathered in the lobby. Rumors started to fly. One approached a CMT staff member and asked: “Is there a hanging? We heard there was a hanging. In the second act A group of 116 audience members, first graders from River Bluff Elementary School in the Central Unified School District, stood up at the direction of teachers and were herded out of the theater during the performance  Joel C. Abels, founder of Children's Musical Theaterworks, produced “Oliver” at Clovis North High School 10 years ago with full approval of the administration.    Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory may have achieved a remarkable new high point for fusion reactions, generating even more energy than was pumped in during a recent experiment. Fusion is the reaction that powers our sun and it works by smashing two atoms together.  In short, if we could harness fusion power, it would revolutionize energy, allowing us to generate clean power without pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.  A major announcement is scheduled to take place at LLNL on Tuesday, Dec. 13. It's expected to be livestreamed by the Department of Energy at approximately 7 a.m. PT. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since its founding in 1952, the mission of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has been to meet urgent national security needs through scientific and technological innovation. Expanding from its focus on nuclear weapons science at the height of the Cold War, LLNL has become a national research leader in counterterrorism, intelligence, defense, and energy, with its emphasis in the latter being to advance national energy security while also reducing its impact. And critical to reducing the environmental impact of the national energy sector is determining how to remove historical greenhouse gas emissions (what has already been released) from the atmosphere in parallel with ongoing global decarbonization efforts.Climate Now's James Lawler was invited to tour LLNL's Carbon Capture Lab, home to a team of scientists working to reduce the cost and bottlenecks of implementing large-scale carbon capture facilities, to learn how this research is developed, where the state-of-the-art is in carbon capture technology, and where we could go next (Direct Air Capture skyscrapers?).#carboncaptureFollow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.Contact us at contact@climatenow.comVisit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode.

Dr. John R. Harvey is a physicist with over 40 years of experience working nuclear weapons and national security issues, first at LLNL, then at Stanford's Center for International Security and Arms Control and in senior positions in the Departments of Defense (twice) and Energy. From 2009-2013, he served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs. In this role, he was Undersecretary Ash Carter's “go to” person for the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review, and for interactions with the NNSA on joint oversight of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. Dr. Harvey provided oversight to DoD acquisition programs to sustain and modernize nuclear weapons delivery systems and systems for their command and control. He has written and spoken extensively on these issues. On retiring from government service in 2013, he consults with, among others, the Defense Science Board, Institute for Defense Analysis, Los Alamos National Laboratory, U.S. Strategic Command's Advisory Panel on Nuclear Command and Control and NNSA's Defense Programs Advisory Committee.

In this episode I'm starting to explore another interesting scientific topic that has recently made a big media splash—nuclear fusion.  For decades the promise of nuclear fusion has been held out as the ultimate in clean energy sources—the same energy as the sun, with no transuranic radioactive waste stream.  Just fusing hydrogen together to make helium and boundless energy.  The problem is that it is very difficult to simulate the sun.  Even in the core of the sun where temperatures are measured in millions of degrees, and the pressure is higher than anywhere in the solar system, fusion is not a fast or efficient process.  I guess that's good for us.  If it were the sun would rapidly burn out in a huge supernova.  As it is, the sun will happily burn hydrogen for about 10 billion years before it starts running short. A proton in the core of the sun can bounce around freely for billions of years without ever getting fused to another proton.  It is this challenge that researchers on earth have been trying to solve for the past 50 years, without much success. Today I'm going to be interviewing a team of researchers working on this problem to find out just how close we are to practical fusion. Omar Hurricane is a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories. Omar received a Ph.D. in Physics from UCLA in 1994, staying on as post-doc until 1998. Omar is a Designer at LLNL, working on topics of stockpile stewardship and High Energy Density Physics, and became Chief Scientist for the Inertial Confinement Fusion Program. In 2009, Omar was awarded the U.S. Department of Energy Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award for National Security and Nonproliferation. Omar became a Fellow of the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics in 2016 and in 2021 was awarded the Edward Teller award and medal from the American Nuclear Society for leading efforts to obtain fuel gain, alpha heating, and a burning plasma in the laboratory. Dr. Alex Zylstra received his bachelor's degree from Pomona College in 2009 and his Ph.D. in plasma physics from MIT in 2015. From there he joined the Los Alamos National Laboratory as a Reines Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow working on developing novel inertial fusion concepts. He joined Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 2018 as the experimental lead for the “Hybrid E” campaign, which subsequently produced the first laboratory burning and ignited plasmas. Follow me at www.therationalview.ca Join the Facebook discussion @TheRationalView Twitter @AlScottRational Instagram @The_Rational_View #TheRationalView #podcast #fusion #ignition #laserfusion 

Are we underestimating the potential of increased efficiency? It wouldn't be the first time.In 2021, the International Energy Agency and the U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasted a 50% increase in global energy demand by 2050. Such forecasts have echoes of the 1970's, when – in the middle of a global energy crisis – forecasters were anticipating as much as a 300% increase in energy demand over the next 3 decades. Those forecasters missed the mark by about 250%, because they didn't count on the significant efficiency improvements in home appliances, vehicle fuel economy, industry and home energy demands that kickstarted in the 1980's.In this episode, featuring Dr. Amory Lovins of RMI and Dr. Roger Aines of Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL), we explore whether energy forecasters are missing the mark again: projecting only incremental efficiency gains in the next 30 years, despite the fact that we already have the technologies and smart design approaches that would allow global energy demand to decrease by more than 70%, while still providing the same services of today.Joined by a group of LLNL scientists, Amory, Roger and host James Lawler discuss the potential of smart and integrative design approaches that can provide savings in both energy emissions and costs, as well as the obstacles that are keeping us from taking full advantage of these approaches. Listen wherever you like to get your podcasts, or listen with the transcript at climatenow.com!00:12 - Introduction00:40 - The Energy Efficiency Resource03:02 - Why focus on efficiency?07:11 - How efficiency increases security and reliability of energy delivery08:16 - How efficiency can be cost effective11:39 - Energy efficiency trends in the last 50 or so years15:08 - How to think about efficiency moving forward23:43 - What methods do we need to employ to get to net-zero. What role does efficiency play?

This week our guest is Roger Aines the Energy Program Chief Scientist in E Program at Lawrence Livermore National Lab. Roger leads the Carbon Initiative at LLNL, which “aims to understand, develop, and implement technologies for the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.” Several months ago, Roger wrote about the “Three Demons of Carbon Removal” in a submission to the journal Chem about “Misconceptions and Myths Surrounding Carbon Removal.” In that piece, he said that three big issues stand between us and our goal of reaching our climate goals- -The Timing Demon- resources are required to stop emissions today but building a carbon removal industry will take decades and needs to begin now. -The ‘Me-Too' Demon- will the reality of carbon removal mean that emitting industries do not pursue decarbonization aggressively? -The Demon of Injustice- carbon removal must demonstrate it can exist to benefit, not burden, communities who have previously been burdened by industry. On today's show, we'll discuss these demons with Roger and how he sees them in the context of some recent news in the world of carbon removal. Also with us, as always, is our policy co-host Chris Barnard, Policy Director at the American Conservation Coalition. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/carbonremovalnewsroom/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/carbonremovalnewsroom/support

One look at the news today will tell you the world is facing a whole host of problems: from political upheaval to the socio-economic effects of Covid-19 all the way to climate change – it's pretty clear we have a lot of work to do. At times, it can really feel like we're being overwhelmed by the issues we have to tackle. So, it's nice to know that there are people who look at these problems not with an overwhelmed sense of dread, but with a deep sense of determination – and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is full of those kinds of people. LLNL is advancing nuclear weapons science, and focuses on a variety of other energy, national security, and technological research problems. The Lab, headed by Director Kim Budil, is staring down the crises that face all of us, and it's doing so by mixing the realms of scientific exploration and entrepreneurial grit to bring innovative solutions to the table. But how does LLNL find a balance between competition and collaboration? Find out on Business X factors.Main takeaways: Forge Extreme Partnerships: No company is able to do it all, especially as the challenges of today's world keep getting more complex. The solution is what Intel's Jason Kimrey and John Kalvin refer to as “Extreme Partnerships.” To adapt to complexity, they suggest bringing together best-of-breed companies. Acknowledge that you don't know everything, be willing to defer to the greatest expertise, think service rather than stand-alone systems, and adapt to longer sale cycles. Teamwork = Success: Yuval Noah Harari wrote in his book Sapiens how our ancestors were pretty insignificant animals until they started acting as a collective. All the huge achievements in humankind, he says, are because of the ability to cooperate flexibly in large numbers. In business, teamwork is essential to a company's success. In a 2020 issue of American Psychologist, a raft of evidence was presented to prove that teamwork can make more people smarter, more creative, and more successful while McKinsey found that diverse teams are more creative and perform better by 35%. Curiosity Marks a Great Leader: Curiosity is regarded by executive coaches as an ‘elite' communication skill. According to executive coach, Stephynie Malik, curiosity is not merely asking questions, it is targeted, thoughtful questions to verify behaviors and align intentions. Leaders' questions may be viewed by many as permission to do the same which could unlock transformational results. ---Business X factors is produced by Mission.org and brought to you by Hyland. For over a decade, Hyland has been named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Content Services Platforms, leading the way to help people get the information they need when and where they need it. More than half of 2019 Fortune 100 companies rely on Hyland to help them create more meaningful connections with the people they serve. When your focus is on the people you serve, Hyland stands behind you. Hyland is your X factor for better performance. Go to Hyland.com/insights to learn more. 

Host Brandon Cardwell speaks with Kim Budil, lab director for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Andy McIlroy, associate labs director for Sandia National Laboratory and leader of the California site, about the mission of the national labs and how that intersects with fueling the local innovation economy. 

Cierstynn is a technician at Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL). Learn about her job at the National Ignition Facility at LLNL and her path to becoming a technician.The Micro Nano Technology Education Center (MNT-EC): https://ate.is/MNT-ECIndian Hills Community College: http://www.indianhills.edu/Laser and Optics Technology Program at Indian Hills Community College: http://www.indianhills.edu/academics/tech/laser.phpLawrence Livermore National Lab: https://www.llnl.gov/The National Ignition Facility, at Lawrence Livermore National Lab: https://lasers.llnl.gov/Video about how a the National Ignition Facility works: https://youtu.be/yixhyPN0r3gEpisode Page: https://talkingtechnicians.buzzsprout.com/

Podcast: The Fusion Podcast -Episode: Fusion Podcast - Dr. Thomas Dolan interviewPub date: 2018-05-21Notes from Listening Post:ThoriumProfessor Thomas J. Dolan is author of “Fusion Research” (1982) and editor of “Magnetic Fusion Technology” (Springer, 2013). He served as head of the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency, Physics Section. Dr. Dolan has worked at universities (Missouri, Illinois); national labs (LLNL, LANL, ORNL, INL); in industry (Phillips Petroleum); and in Canada, Taiwan, Russia, Austria, China, Japan, India, and Korea. His new book is “Molten Salt Reactors and Thorium Energy” (Elsevier Press, 2017). In our interview, we talk about the history of fusion research in America.The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dr. Matt Moynihan , which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

Podcast: The Fusion Podcast -Episode: Fusion Podcast - Robert Steinhaus interviewPub date: 2018-05-24Notes from Listening Post:ThoriumIn 2008, Robert Steinhaus retired after 34 years working in nuclear research at the Lawrence Livermore National Labs. During his career, he worked on the U.S. nuclear weapons program and on magnetic mirrors. Mr. Steinhaus has been advocating for fusion and fission concepts for several years, as part of the Thorium Energy Alliance and The Fusion Energy League. In our interview we talk about his LLNL career and the links between fusion research and its connections to U.S. leadership in nuclear research.The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dr. Matt Moynihan , which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.