Still cool though.
That said, one application of the NIF is as the ultimate incinerator. Using it to literally rip apart hazardous waste (either the nuclear or more mundane variety) into lower atomic number atoms which are not a problem.
And of course if they can get out more than they put in, then an energy neutral (and fast) disposal system.
That said, the physics of the place are astounding, I got to tour the place about 10 years ago when it was still being built and man, it is right up there with the LHC in terms of extremely large and at the same time precise physics machines.
How?
PS: That could actually work, at 5% thermal efficiency a Castle Bravo device ~= 63,000TJ = 17500000000.014kwh *.05 = ~1GW for 1 month.
In particular, I never hear anyone talk about the laser technology in anything but instrumental terms. (Instrumental to understanding the nuclear physics.)
[1] https://www.llnl.gov/about/tours.html [2] https://lasers.llnl.gov/multimedia/photo_gallery/overview/?i...
Can someone explain this a little bit? They were able to put 500 terawatts into this beam, I think I understand that part. But that's 1,000x more energy than the US is using right now.. so did they actually create that much energy to begin with? This is where I'm failing at understanding.
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%28500e12+Watts%29+*+%2...
*Edited because of wrong numbers
https://lasers.llnl.gov/about/nif/how_nif_works/power_condit...
https://www.llnl.gov/news/newsreleases/2012/Jul/NR-12-07-01....
I guess that "any other laser" similarly may be made of a bunch of other lasers. So, tha factor 100 is more "a hundred times as much power as any other coherent beam ever produced"
Fire at will, Commander -- The Emperor