The dream of igniting a self-sustained fusion reaction with high yields of energy, a feat likened to creating a miniature star on Earth, is getting closer to becoming reality, according the authors of a new review article in the journal Physics of Plasmas.

In the early morning hours of Aug.13, Lawrence Livermore’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) focused all 192 of its ultra-powerful laser beams on a tiny deuterium-tritium filled capsule. In the nanoseconds that followed, the capsule imploded and released a neutron yield of nearly 3×1015, or approximately 8,000 joules of neutron energy—approximately three times NIF’s previous neutron yield record for cryogenic implosions. http://phys.org/news/2013-09-fusion-weve.html

Clearly, we are living in the end of the fossil fuel age.  One estimate is that fusion fuel could be made for as little as 25 cents per use and yield 50 to 100 times more energy than is needed to initiate the fusion reaction.

Will this brave, new world lead to energy abundance for all or a monopoly for a few?  I would like to believe that this technology will be used to drive a new economy that is more sustainable and less exploitative than the oil economy of today.  But I suspect that the level of technology needed to produce this power would enable a higher consolidation of wealth.  Once such a power source becomes available, the market for fossil fuels will shrink to the point that developing economies that are entirely dependent on them may collapse and further destabilize regions already in turmoil.

For a detailed explanation of how the two main types of experimental fusion reactors work, go to http://science.howstuffworks.com/fusion-reactor2.htm.

I also wonder about the potential to weaponize fusion reactions.  A quick search turned up this disturbing info below.

A pure fusion weapon .. would require no fissile material and would therefore be much easier to build in secret than existing weapons. The necessity of separating high-quality fissile material requires a substantial industrial investment, and blocking the sale and transfer of the needed machinery has been the primary mechanism to control nuclear proliferation to date.

Pure fusion weapons offer the possibility of generating very small nuclear yields and the advantage of reduced collateral damage stemming from fallout because these weapons would not create the highly radioactive byproducts associated with fission-type weapons…. The neutrons may cause substantially more casualties than the explosive blast, as in a neutron bomb.

If I understand this idea, a pure fusion weapon would destroy living things without destroying the infrastructure or leaving radiation.  How tempting for a new wave of colonization in areas of great instability world wide, instant vacancy – ready for new owner.  Science fiction author Isaac Asimov said that “Such a neutron bomb or N bomb seems desirable to those who worry about property and hold life cheap.” in The New Intelligent Man’s Guide to Science. Basic Books, New York, 1965. Page 410.

In a 2001 DOE Declassification document titled RESTRICTED DATA DECLASSIFICATION DECISIONS 1946 TO THE PRESENT a power threshold is set for classification.

Research and development on lasers will be classified if power level exceeds 100 gigawatt, or pulse energy exceed 1 kilojoule. Any laser application (for any power whether or not classified) that achieves DT ignition will be classified Restricted Data. DT ignition is defined to be a 1% rise in temperature or mean charged-particle kinetic energy at any point in the gas [target]. (64-7) http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/rdd-7.html#I59

Does this mean that if the lab succeeds in gaining ignition, the technology becomes unavailable for commercial development?  Do the results reported today, exceed this level now?  Or does it not count yet, because they did not achieve ignition.  So are we one step closer to Utopia or one step closer to Armageddon?