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On moving fast and breaking things
Craig Piercycpiercy@ans.org
So much of what is happening in federal nuclear policy these days seems driven by a common approach popularized in the technology sector. Silicon Valley calls it “move fast and break things,” a phrase originally associated with Facebook’s early culture under Mark Zuckerberg. The idea emerged in the early 2000s as software companies discovered that rapid iteration, frequent experimentation, and a willingness to tolerate failure could dramatically accelerate innovation. This philosophy helped drive the growth of the social media, smartphones, cloud computing, and digital platforms that now underpin modern economic and social life.
Today, that mindset is also influencing federal nuclear policy. The Trump administration views accelerated nuclear deployment as part of a broader competition with China for technological and AI leadership. In that context, it seems willing to accept greater operational risk in pursuit of strategic advantage and long-term economic and security objectives.
Monya A. Lane
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 15 | Number 2 | March 1989 | Pages 778-782
ICF Reactors and Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST89-A39789
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Target design, fabrication and handling are central to the design of a Laboratory Microfusion Facility (LMF). Both direct and indirect drive target designs are being considered. This paper will address the target issues for the LMF concept, for the case of direct drive targets. Current direct-drive designs call for uniform liquid DT layers to be contained in a low density hydrocarbon foam shell at 20–25°K, or uniform solid DT layers to be created on the interior of a solid shell at about 19°K. A conceptual plan for LMF target fabrication is presented which addresses many of the issues raised by this new generation of ICF targets. Since these targets will require a cryogenic environment until they are imploded, solutions to a number of problems including temperature stability, fill methods for various target designs, tritium supply, target transport, and target alignment must be integrated into a single cryogenic system which maintains the target over its lifetime. The simultaneous solution of all these issues will require a complex facility capable of integrating technologies ranging from foam chemistry to novel cryogenics. This paper outlines the requirements on such a facility as well as many solutions under consideration.