Small, modular nuclear fission reactors are emerging as a resilient energy option, offering a scalable, cost-effective path to reliable power for remote or infrastructure-limited locations. However, these advanced reactor facilities typically run hotter and longer than conventional light water reactors, so they will require a new type of nuclear fuel tough enough to withstand harsher operating conditions. Through a Strategic Partnership Project with micronuclear reactor startup AMPERA, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) engineers are applying a novel metallic-particle
Technology & InnovationEnergy Policy#Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory#Advanced Materials and Manufacturing#Energy#Industry Collaborations#Nuclear#Chem#and Isotopic S&T#Top Story
Space & AstronomyLawrence Livermore National Laboratory
It has been a long-standing mystery in nuclear physics: why do the nuclei of some atoms emit more low-energy gamma rays than they should? The answer can be found in a new study from an international scientific team led by the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) and including authors from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Published in Nature, the work sheds light on the internal structure of atomic nuclei and has far-reaching implications for national security and astrophysics. Gamma rays are a type of electromagnetic radiation like visible light and radio waves. Atomic
Space & AstronomyEnergy Policy#Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory#Academic Engagement#Nuclear#Chem#and Isotopic S&T#Physical and Life Sciences#Top Story#astronomy
Technology & InnovationLawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Diamond is more than a dazzling gem — the extremely hard form of carbon makes up the pellet that encases fuel for inertial confinement fusion, and scientists believe it rains down deep inside ice giant planets like Neptune and Uranus. In both cases, the material experiences enormous pressures. Until now, experiments and simulations have disagreed about how it actually behaves under those conditions. In a new study, published in Nature Physics, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) document how diamond melts under pressures three times greater than the conditions at
Fusion EnergyTechnology & Innovation#Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory#High-Energy-Density Science#Laboratory Directed Research and Development#National Ignition Facility and Photon Science#Physical and Life Sciences#Top Story#fusion#plasma physics
Press ReleasesLawrence Livermore National Laboratory
On July 16, 2024, a daytime meteor shook New York City with a sonic boom as it passed just south of the Statue of Liberty. A short time later, a more than two-pound meteorite crashed through the roof of a house in the town of Hillsborough, New Jersey. Now, an international team, including scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), has analyzed that meteorite. Their results — which indicate that the meteor was once a part of an ancient, briny asteroid — appear in the journal Science Advances. "A forensic study of the fragments revealed that they contained preserved bits
Research#Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory#Nuclear#Chem#and Isotopic S&T#Physical and Life Sciences#Space security#Top Story
Technology & InnovationLawrence Livermore National Laboratory
While quantum computing could be the future, it is currently plagued by finicky hardware. To make the technology practical, researchers must demonstrate that it consistently and continuously works and performs at scale. In a new study, published in Physical Review Letters, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the Ion Storage Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, created a robust process for entangling trapped-ion qubits. The result means better building blocks for ion-based quantum computers. The approach creates a
Technology & Innovation#Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory#Advanced Materials and Manufacturing#computing#HPC#Simulation#and Data Science#Top Story#advanced materials
Technology & InnovationLawrence Livermore National Laboratory
At the bottom of the ocean, optical fibers transmit telecommunications and internet data across the world. Waveguides make that feat possible by channeling and amplifying the light — and therefore the data within — over enormous distances. And the technology goes beyond undersea cables. Waveguiding optics are among the most important advances in photonics since the invention of the laser. They are fundamental to the structure of glass fiber lasers, which are used for high-power national security applications like counter-drone laser systems and missile defense. Now, researchers at
Technology & Innovation#Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory#Advanced Materials and Manufacturing#Defense#Engineering#Lasers and Optical S&T#Top Story#advanced materials#innovation
Space & AstronomyLawrence Livermore National Laboratory
On a multi-billion-mile journey to the asteroid Psyche, a gamma-ray sensor developed by a team at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) took its first measurements of a planetary surface after 2.6 years in deep space. NASA's Psyche spacecraft flew behind Mars for a gravity assist, with the red planet's gravitational field acting as a slingshot to change the flight path and increase the velocity of the spacecraft. The sensor is part of the mission's gamma-ray spectrometer built in partnership with Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. The instrument will allow researchers to
Space & Astronomy#Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory#Academic Engagement#Government#Nuclear and Chemical Sciences#Nuclear#Chem#and Isotopic S&T#Physical and Life Sciences
