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LLNL and Fraunhofer ILT partner on next-generation fusion lasers
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology (ILT) are joining forces to transition laser-ignited inertial fusion from experiments to industrial applications in a collaboration called ICONIC-FL (International Cooperation on Next-gen Inertial Confinement Fusion Lasers). Through a Cooperative Research and Development…
LLNL and Energy I-Corps take science from big ideas to big market impact
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) pursues big ideas to solve the most important security challenges facing the U.S. and the world. In that pursuit, scientific breakthroughs with market potential are discovered, protected and licensed to (or collaborated on) with industry partners through a process called technology transfer. LLNL’s Innovation and Partnerships…
Energy-efficient process delivers rare-earth element for magnets
Neodymium is a rare-earth element essential for producing the strongest permanent magnets, which are widespread in defense technologies, hard drives, medical imaging devices, electric vehicle motors, wind turbines and more. Despite its designation in the U.S. as a critical material, neodymium is primarily mined and refined overseas. China controls much of the supply chain,…
Big Ideas Lab podcast traces the flow of energy in the U.S.
Inside a sixth-grade classroom, a teacher dims the lights and directs the student's attention to a projector. On the screen appears a brightly colored chart featuring thick, twisting bars extending from left to right. Some are as wide as rivers; others as narrow as threads. The diagrams look almost like a subway map for America’s energy. At the left, the lines “depart”…
Turning wastewater into valuable fertilizer
Almost half of the planet’s population depends on synthetic fertilizers to grow the food they eat. But that fertilizer comes at a cost — about two percent of the world’s energy budget. Improving efficiency and cutting costs of producing fertilizer would have big, global impacts. To that end, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) are developing a…
LLNL joins inaugural California Fusion Energy Convening
Leaders from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and its Livermore Institute of Fusion Technology (LIFT) shaped the agenda of the first-ever gathering of California fusion energy leaders from across the public sector, industry and academia. “California is, without question, the center of fusion innovation,” LLNL Director Kim Budil said during opening remarks on…
Energy Department funds LLNL for fusion energy research
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $134 million in funding for two programs designed to secure U.S. leadership in emerging fusion technologies and innovation: the Fusion Innovation Research Engine (FIRE) collaboratives and Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE) program. This adds to the initial funding for FIRE Collaboratives announced in January…
Controlling water cuts energy costs for ethylene production
Maintaining American energy independence requires minimizing reliance on foreign countries to produce commodity chemicals and fuels. Using carbon dioxide electrolyzers to produce valuable chemical precursors such as ethylene provides one way to diversify domestic feedstocks. But, so far, these devices have been limited by their low efficiency, which makes them energy…
Turning captured carbon into natural gas could provide cost-competitive energy storage
Solar and wind energy are highly variable, dependent on the day, weather and location of the facilities. At times, they can generate more electricity than is needed, but they can also fall short when demand is at its peak. Unfortunately, any extra energy created by these sources is often wasted, as there are few methods that adequately store it long-term. To improve energy…
Johanna Schwartz and collaborators selected for Scialog award
The Scialog: Automating Chemical Laboratories initiative has awarded Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientist Johanna Schwartz $60,000 to pursue automated design of next-generation membranes for fuel cells. The award comes as one of seven collaborative projects funded by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA), the Arnold and Mabel Beckman…
Las Positas College, LLNL offer Laser Optics Workshop
Laser and Electronic Optics Technicians (LEOTs) are critical to the operation of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) and other laser systems. In addition to being the world’s most energetic laser and the only place where fusion ignition has been achieved in a laboratory, NIF is also the world’s largest optical instrument. But LEOTs,…
LLNL, Amazon partner on groundbreaking AI integration at the National Ignition Facility
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a data factory — when NIF’s high-energy-density physics experiments go off in the blink of an eye, valuable scientific data is the product. LLNL already leverages AI tools to manage this data, using them to improve predictive modeling capabilities and transform optics inspection and target…
Predicting atomic structures proves useful in energy and sustainability
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have developed a new approach that combines generative artificial intelligence (AI) and first-principles simulations to predict three-dimensional (3D) atomic structures of highly complex materials. This research highlights LLNL’s efforts in advancing machine learning for materials science research and supporting…
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s El Capitan verified as world's fastest supercomputer
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), in collaboration with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and AMD, have officially unveiled El Capitan as the world's most powerful supercomputer and first exascale system dedicated to national security. Verified at 1.742 exaFLOPs (1.742 quintillion calculations per second) on…
3D-printed electrode is all charged up
The architectural design of electrodes offers new opportunities for next-generation electrochemical energy storage devices (EESDs) by increasing surface area, thickness and storage capacity. But conventional thick electrodes increase ion diffusion length and cause larger ion-concentration gradients, limiting reaction kinetics, including storage capacity. To overcome these…
Americans increase overall pace of decarbonization, but state trends vary
In 2023, Americans reduced their consumption of electricity and fossil fuels, while increasing consumption of carbon-free energies, according to the most recent energy and carbon flowcharts released by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Each year, LLNL releases these flowcharts to illustrate the nation's consumption and uses of energy, as well as associated CO2…
LLNL-led team receives ARPA-E funding for technology to enable fusion power plants
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) has awarded a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)-led team $3.4 million to develop new alloys for first wall fusion reactors and enable commercial fusion energy. The funding came through ARPA-E’s Creating Hardened And Durable fusion first Wall Incorporating Centralized Knowledge …
Getting into the details of carbon accounting
Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is essential for climate change mitigation, but no single standardized methodology exists for evaluating project-level net carbon removal from the atmosphere. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and collaborators from Lawrence Berkeley and National Renewable Energy national laboratories and UC Berkeley, have looked into the…
LLNL’s newest Machinist Apprenticeship Program graduates embark on next chapter of careers
In a ceremony tinged with tradition, the latest cohort from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL’s) esteemed Machinist Apprenticeship Program recently celebrated their graduations at a private ceremony. The event, held at a new venue for the first time in decades — Livermore’s Zephyr Bar and Grill — was attended by family members, friends, mentors, past…
All ears on the Big Ideas Lab podcast
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has big ideas and is showing the world in the Big Ideas Lab weekly podcast that takes listeners behind the fences and into its heart. “This is where big ideas come to life,” said Lab Director Kim Budil. “To do this, we bring together dynamic teams of many different disciplines — laser physicists and materials scientists and…
