By Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
Feb. 21, 2014
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has cancelled an ambitious laser fusion energy program aimed at marketing and commercializing National Ignition Facility technology in the face of Congressional scrutiny and questions about the utility of the program. Acting Livermore Director Bret Knapp confirmed last week in an interview with NS&D Monitor that the program, known as LIFE (Laser Inertial Fusion Energy), had been formally terminated, though he emphasized the decision had no impact on NIF itself. “We’ve just marketed LIFE way beyond where it was ready to be marketed,” Knapp said. “The problem is it’s a really nice idea that is so far away. What we need to do is study the fundamental things so we begin to understand ignition.”
NIF has recently made some slight progress on the path to ignition (NS&D Monitor, Vol. 18 No. 6), but the elusive goal has proven much more difficult to achieve than initially promised, and the lab has rebalanced the shots on the massive laser in favor of shots designed to improve knowledge for the Stockpile Stewardship Program while taking a more measured approach to understanding the physics of ignition.
‘Way More Trouble Than … It’s Worth’
With a tag line of “soon enough to make a difference,” LIFE seemed to assume the facility would quickly achieve ignition and envisioned a fleet of modular power plants employing laser fusion reactors to solve the world’s energy needs by producing “safe, cost-effective and reliable baseload power.” According to the program’s website, LIFE’s approach was to “build upon the technology advances achieved in building and conducting ignition experiments on NIF.”
The problem, according to Knapp, is that the concept is so far away from implementation that it appeared to distract from the current mission of achieving ignition. “Once we get ignition you still need a 50 times multiplier before you ever start talking about getting energy out,” Knapp said. “There’s a bunch of things. This idea of starting to market this fusion energy thing is just a thing that’s gotten us into way more trouble than it should’ve, or that it’s worth.” Marylia Kelley, the executive director of Tri-Valley CARES, a Livermore-based watchdog group, has long been critical of NIF and the pursuit of LIFE. “The science just isn’t there yet to support LIFE,” Kelley said. “ ‘Betting on the come’ is neither prudent science nor sound fiscal management. It’s a good idea to stop further funding for LIFE now. In fact, it is overdue.”
LDRD Funding Comes Under Scrutiny
Lab spokeswoman Lynda Seaver was unable to say exactly how much money has been spent on LIFE, but she said the lab spent $58.4 million from Fiscal Year 2008 to FY 2013 on inertial fusion energy efforts, which includes the LIFE program. Much of that money came in the form of laboratory directed research and development funds, which represents a small percentage of laboratory spending on programs deemed innovative and exploratory. LDRD also offers the lab more flexibility in terms of how it spends its money, and there is less Congressional oversight than typical budget items. “We got ourselves in the situation where people thought we were spending too much money—that we should’ve been spending on experiments—marketing LIFE,” Knapp said. “I don’t think there was a ton of money spent on it, I don’t think it’s that big a deal, but I think it got us cross-wise with more people than it was worth. The basic research and stuff is still useful to do but you don’t have to pin it on LIFE.”
Congressional appropriators, however, began to question the growing amount being spent on LIFE in recent years and had begun to object that LIFE—with dozens of staff and a director, Michael Dunne—had grown into more than a LDRD program. “When you start getting key Congressional supporters mad at you, you need to fix it,” Knapp said. “We’re going to keep, as quietly as we can, marching toward ignition. … I think we’re going to continue to make progress. Whether we are going to get to ignition or not, I don’t know. But I’m feeling better than I was three months ago.” Knapp said the lab will still invest in resources that include relevant materials science, diode pumped laser development, and target research, but he emphasized that those are “multipurpose” areas with relevance to magnetic fusion energy or directed energy in addition to inertial fusion energy applications.
