Engineers and scientists at General Atomics are celebrating this week after receiving a prestigious award from R&D World magazine for technology that helped achieve the first controlled nuclear fusion “ignition.”
The 4Pi Integrated Metrology System, which won the 2024 “R&D Team of the Year” Award, is groundbreaking for helping develop a new source of boundless clean energy.
Scientists have been working on controlled nuclear fusion since the 1950s, but only with the San Diego-based company’s 4Pi system have reactions achieved “ignition” — creating more power than consumed.
“This award is a testament to the team’s hard work and commitment to developing game-changing technologies and capabilities for our field,” said Mike Farrell, vice president of inertial fusion technologies at General Atomics.
“I am confident the 4Pi system will continue to play a significant role in assisting scientists to understand the fundamental principles to routinely and robustly produce fusion-ignition conditions.”
Fusion, which takes place naturally in the core of the Sun and other stars, requires an enormous amount of heat and pressure. Hydrogen atoms are combined to form helium, turning matter into energy in the process.
Ignition has been achieved five times at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory using lasers to fuse tiny hydrogen targets created by the 4Pi system.
Creating these target capsules is no easy task. At 2mm in diameter — the size of a BB pellet — any defects could affect the behavior of the fuel when the target is ready to be ignited. Any abnormalities smaller than 1/100th the diameter of a human hair could stifle ignition.
To avoid this, the system measures and screens each capsule to map their unique properties, identify imperfections, and make continuous improvements throughout the fabrication process.
With so many moving parts in one project, the technical expertise of each person on the team, from physics and software to engineering, was essential for the success of the 4Pi system.
The General Atomics team competed against several hundred submissions from 16 different countries and regions, and entries were judged by 56 respected industry professionals from around the world.
This awards program is the only science and technology competition that recognizes new commercial products, technologies, and materials for their technological significance.
To read more about General Atomic’s work in inertial capsule fusion, visit www.ga.com/inertial-fusion/.