Jul 11th 2008

France banking on laser research

by Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson is a music critic with particular interest in piano. 

Johnson worked as a reporter and editor in New York, Moscow, Paris and London over his journalism career. He covered European technology for Business Week for five years, and served nine years as chief editor of International Management magazine and was chief editor of the French technology weekly 01 Informatique. He also spent four years as Moscow correspondent of The Associated Press. He is the author of five books.

Michael Johnson is based in Bordeaux. Besides English and French he is also fluent in Russian.

You can order Michael Johnson's most recent book, a bilingual book, French and English, with drawings by Johnson:

“Portraitures and caricatures:  Conductors, Pianist, Composers”

 here.

At the heart of the French advanced research program is a little-known project for a giant laser cannon -- not for shooting down satellites but for something potentially much more powerful. It will test theories for the next generation of civilian energy sources and French thermonuclear weapons.

The Laser Megajoule (LMJ) facility, now under construction at Le Barp, near Bordeaux, is designed to achieve nuclear fusion - the same process as the ignition of the hydrogen bomb - in laboratory conditions. It will combine 240 high-energy-density lasers as the energy source. (Mega means million and a joule is an energy unit used in physics.)

Work is on target to complete the construction by 2012. It will be the world's most powerful laser installation for any purpose.

I was granted a private tour of the sprawling facility recently and had an opportunity to question the two physicists who showed me around. This is no mere Gaullist prestige project. They are already talking of a "Nobel-worthy" creation.

For both civil and military applications, scientists have waited decades for laboratory technology to create pressures and temperatures sufficiently high to fuse hydrogen atoms. When this is achieved it will be a "transforming event" for science, says Eric Storm, liaison officer between LMJ and a somewhat smaller laser facility being built at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. "This is the holy grail."

Both labs will attempt to produce temperatures of several hundred million degree, reaching the estimated levels of heat in the sun and other stars- in effect creating a few "new stars" every day. Each burst will be monitored in a "target chamber" to help scientists probe such mysteries as supernova exploding stars and the chemical processes of the sun. "We'll finally be able to say, 'Now I understand better what's happening,'" says Storm.

A system of amplifiers and optics will shoot the laser beams down a path of 2100 feet, including multiple passes to build up power, to focus on a pellet of deuterium and tritium, causing hydrogen fusion in a few billionths of a second. This facility is the talk of the scientific community because the process has never been studied in laboratory conditions.

A friendly rivalry between the two similar laser systems has developed, and a steady exchange of non-military data has already been carried out.

The French laser unit is a key component of Simulation, the equivalent of the U.S. nuclear Stockpile Stewardship organization. Both programs are aimed at maintaining nuclear arsenals at operational levels and modernizing existing weaponry.

LMJ is civilian-operated by the Commisariat à Energie Atomique (CEA), the French Atomic Energy Commission, but one of its main missions will be to validate computer-based weapons calculations without resorting to atmospheric or underground testing - long forbidden by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The last French underground test was a controversial 1996 blast on the Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific.

About three-quarters of the LMJ project will be devoted to military experiments, with the rest dedicated to basic physics for disciplines ranging from astrophysics to new energy sources. Laboratories throughout the world are being invited to submit projects for the LMJ and initial proposals are under consideration.

The French hope to create a global center of laser expertise that they believe will be a pivotal technology for the future. Alongside the military installation, land is being cleared for the "Route du Laser", a future Silicon Valley equivalent for laser applications. A program called Alphanov will facilitate the transfer of technology to the private sector. Three private sector companies are installed there and several others are in negotiation for space.

In addition, a few months ago the French announced the world's first graduate study program in fusion science, to be offered at several French universities and eventually at others in Europe. The degree-granting program is designed to train the next generation of nuclear science specialists and incidentally keep France on the map as a center of excellence in fusion matters.

Why does France bother? Because the country's leadership is determined to see France do more than make wine, cheese, perfume and fancy clothes. Another factor is what the French call cocorico (cock-a-doodle-do), the national pride in maintaining independence from U.S. technology, especially where there are military applications.

A massive investment program in civil nuclear power has virtually freed France of Middle East oil imports, with 80 percent of the nation's electricity now produced by 58 nuclear power stations. There have been stumbles along the way, including the shutdown and dismantling of Superphénix, the multibillion-dollar reactor that produced more plutonium than it consumed, for financial reasons. And so the tactics shift but the strategy survives.

The investment in nuclear weaponry for national defense, the "dissuasion" force to discourage foreign attacks, also continues apace. The stockpile maintenance program operates on a 15-year budget of 8 billion dollars, perhaps not excessive considering that France is battle-ready with its estimated 400 operational nuclear warheads. This arsenal makes it the third-largest nuclear power after Russia and the United States, well ahead of China and Great Britain, both of which have only an estimated 200 warheads each, according to research published recently in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced in March that France will reduce its number of airborne nuclear weapons by one-third, to under 300 missiles. This will leave France with half the maximum number of warheads it had during the Cold War. But Sarkozy insisted he was committed to France's nuclear deterrent as a "life-insurance policy".

Pierre Bouchet, director of the well-protected CEA site, is serene in his confidence that France is doing the right thing standing by the development of military nuclear potential. Superpower confrontation may be over but Bouchet remains firm. I asked him who the enemy is. "Today, I don't know," he said. "But can you predict what the world will be like in 20 years? In 40 years? I cannot."

However it turns out, the French intend to be ready.

In the meantime, the world is waiting for new energy sources, and France is determined to be a player there as well.


If you wish to comment on this book review, you can do so on-line.

Should you wish to publish your own article on the Facts & Arts website, please contact us at info@factsandarts.com. Please note that Facts & Arts shares its advertising revenue with those who have contributed material and have signed an agreement with us.

 


This article is brought to you by the author who owns the copyright to the text.

Should you want to support the author’s creative work you can use the PayPal “Donate” button below.

Your donation is a transaction between you and the author. The proceeds go directly to the author’s PayPal account in full less PayPal’s commission.

Facts & Arts neither receives information about you, nor of your donation, nor does Facts & Arts receive a commission.

Facts & Arts does not pay the author, nor takes paid by the author, for the posting of the author's material on Facts & Arts. Facts & Arts finances its operations by selling advertising space.

 

 

Browse articles by author

More Current Affairs

Jun 11th 2022
EXTRACT: "If Trump had his way, then Vice-President Pence would have also broken his oath to the constitution and derailed the certification of electoral votes. Our continued existence as a Republic might very well have hung on Pence’s actions that day. The mob’s response was to call for Pence to be hanged, and a noose and scaffold was erected apparently for that very purpose. What was Trump’s reaction when he was told that the mob was calling for Pence’s summary execution? His words were: “Maybe our supporters have the right idea.” Mike Pence “deserves” it."
Jun 10th 2022
EXTRACTS: "Speaking to journalist Sophie Raworth on the BBC’s Sunday Morning show recently, former war crimes prosecutor Sir Howard Morrison, now an advisor to the Ukraine government, highlighted the dangers posed by the negative – often insulting and dehumanising – statements made by some Russian politicians and media personalities about Ukraine and its people." ---- "The conditions and attitudes described by Morrison have existed for centuries: Russians have viewed Ukrainians as inferior since before the Soviet era." ----- "And, as Morrison said, stereotyping and denigrating a people as inferior or lacking agency makes atrocities and looting more likely to happen, as we are seeing in Ukraine."
Jun 9th 2022
EXTRACT: "Unless Russia realises that the west is willing and able to push back, a new, stable security order in Europe will not be possible. Concessions to Russia, by Ukraine or the EU and Nato, are not the way to achieve this. That this has been realised beyond Ukraine’s most ardent supporters in the Baltic states, Poland, the UK and the US is clear from German support for strengthening Nato’s northern flank and a general increase in Nato members’ defence spending."
Jun 8th 2022
EXTRACT: "Highly civilized people can turn into barbarians when demagogues and dictators exploit their fears and trigger their most atavistic instincts. Rape, torture, and massacres often happen when soldiers invade foreign countries. Commanding officers sometimes actively encourage such behavior to terrorize an enemy into submission. And sometimes it occurs when the officer corps loses control and discipline breaks down. Japanese and Germans know this, as do Serbs, Koreans, Americans, Russians, and many others."
Jun 1st 2022
EXTRACTS: "Like Metternich, Kissinger commits the fatal error of believing that a few wise policymakers can impose their will on the world. Worse, he believes they can halt domestically generated change and the power of nationalism. Many years ago, this is what Senator William Fulbright termed the “arrogance of power.” This approach failed in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. It is also doomed to fail in Russia and Ukraine." ------ "Not surprisingly, Kissinger misunderstands Russia. He appears to believe that, because Russia has been an “essential part of Europe” for over four centuries, it is therefore fated to remain so for the foreseeable future.The claim is completely at odds with history." ---- "Finally, Kissinger misunderstands the implications of his own analysis for Western relations with Russia. “We are facing,” he said, “a situation now where Russia could alienate itself completely from Europe and seek a permanent alliance elsewhere." ---- "But what’s so bad about Russia’s isolating itself from Europe and becoming a vassal state of China? "
Jun 1st 2022
EXTRACTS: "According to the latest figures from China’s National Bureau of Statistics, China’s population grew from 1.41212 billion to just 1.41260 billion in 2021 – a record low increase of just 480,000, a mere fraction of the annual growth of eight million or so common a decade ago." ----- "China’s total fertility rate (births per woman) was 2.6 in the late 1980s – well above the 2.1 needed to replace deaths. It has been between 1.6 and 1.7 since 1994, and slipped to 1.3 in 2020 and just 1.15 in 2021."
Jun 1st 2022
EXTRACTS: "Casualties are very high. A very conservative estimate of overall Russian losses is that they have lost more troops killed since February 24 than in ten years of fighting in Afghanistan. This implies well over 40,000 men taken out of the fight, including the wounded." ----- "Away from the cauldron of Donbas, Belarus has been rattling its somewhat rusty sabre by deploying troops to its border with Ukraine. This is unlikely to trouble Kyiv. The Belarus president, Alexander Lukashenko, is well aware that he may need them at home to shore up his shaky regime."
May 27th 2022
EXTRACTS: "Monetary policymakers are talking tough nowadays about fighting inflation to head off the risk of it spinning out of control. But that doesn’t mean they won’t eventually wimp out and allow the inflation rate to rise above target. Since hitting the target most likely requires a hard landing, they could end up raising rates and then getting cold feet once that scenario becomes more likely. Moreover, because there is so much private and public debt in the system (348% of GDP globally), interest-rate hikes could trigger a further sharp downturn in bond, stock, and credit markets, giving central banks yet another reason to backpedal." ----- "The historical evidence shows that a soft landing is highly improbable. That leaves either a hard landing and a return to lower inflation, or a stagflationary scenario. Either way, a recession in the next two years is likely."
May 26th 2022
EXTRACT: "No, I am not arguing that Powell needs to replicate Volcker’s tightening campaign. But if the Fed wishes to avoid a replay of the stagflation of the late 1970s and early 1980s, it needs to recognize the extraordinary gulf between Volcker’s 4.4% real interest rate and Powell’s -2.25%. It is delusional to believe that such a wildly accommodative policy trajectory can solve America’s worst inflation problem in a generation."
May 26th 2022
EXTRACT: "It will be critical in this context how China will act and whether it will prioritise its economic interests (continuing trade with Europe and the US) or current ideological preferences (an alliance with Russia that makes the world safe for autocracies)."
May 26th 2022
EXTRACT: "The document is full of embarrassing and damming stories of illegal gatherings and bad behaviour. There was “excessive alcohol consumption”, a regular fixture referred to as “wine time Fridays” and altercations between staff. Aides are shown to have left Downing Street after 4am (and not because they had worked into these early hours). Cleaning staff and junior aides were abused, and a Number 10 adviser is on record before the infamous “bring your own booze” party...."
May 17th 2022
EXTRACT: "But even a resounding Russian defeat is an ominous scenario. Yes, under such circumstances – and only such circumstances – Putin might be toppled in some kind of coup led by elements of Russia’s security apparatus. But the chances that this would produce a liberal democratic Russia that abandons Putin’s grand strategic designs are slim. More likely, Russia would be a rogue nuclear superpower ruled by military coup-makers with revanchist impulses. Germany after World War I comes to mind."
May 4th 2022
EXTRACT: ".....a remarkable transformation is taking place in Ukraine’s army amounting to its de facto military integration into Nato. As western equipment filters through to the frontline, Nato-standard weaponry and ammunition will be brought into Ukrainian service. This is of far higher quality than the mainly former Soviet weapons with which the Ukrainians have fought so capably. The longer this process continues and deepens, the worse the situation will be for the already inefficient Russian army and air force."
May 3rd 2022
EXTRACT: " The conventional wisdom among students of the Russian arts and sciences is that Russian culture is “great.” The problem is that, while there are surely great individuals within Russian culture, the culture as a whole cannot avoid responsibility for Putin and his regime’s crimes." ---- "Russianists will not be able to avoid examining themselves and their Russian cultural icons for harbingers of the present catastrophe. What does it mean that Fyodor Dostoevsky was a Russian chauvinist? That Nikolai Gogol and Anton Chekhov were Ukrainian? That Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was an unvarnished imperialist? That Aleksandr Pushkin was a troubadour of Russian imperial greatness? May these writers still be read without one eye on the ongoing atrocities in Ukraine?"
Apr 29th 2022
EXTRACT: "The following day Lavrov met his Eritrean counterpart, Osman Saleh, in Moscow. Eritrea was the only African country to vote against the UN resolution condemning the invasion. In this refusal to condemn Russia, Eritrea was joined by only Belarus, North Korea and Syria. Even longstanding allies such as Cuba and China abstained. It’s an indication of Russia’s increasingly limited diplomatic options as this war continues."
Apr 24th 2022
EXTRACT: "Although the milestone lasted only for a brief time, it points to a future in which California runs on 100% wind, solar, hydro and batteries, a future that will certainly arrive even faster than the state plans. As it is, California is ahead of its green energy goals." ...... "A world of 100% green energy and electric cars is not only a healthier and more comfortable world, it is a world where oil and gas dictators like Vladimir Putin are defunded."
Apr 17th 2022
EXTRACT: "Kazakhstan’s authorities have also showed uncharacteristic leniency in allowing public rallies in support of Ukraine. Thousands of protesters holding banners reading “Russians, leave Ukraine”, “Long Live Ukraine” and “Bring Putin to trial” marched across the capital, Almaty, wrapping monuments to Lenin and other Soviet-era figures with yellow and blue balloons symbolising the Ukrainian flag."
Apr 15th 2022
EXTRACT: "People’s identification with the Soviet Union appears to have a clear and growing basis in Russian public opinion. Surveys we have conducted throughout the Putin period show that Soviet identification among the general population – something that had been steadily declining after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 – began to increase in 2014, when the Russian government annexed Crimea and supported rebellions in the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. By 2021, almost 50% of those surveyed identified with the Soviet Union rather than the Russian Federation."
Apr 13th 2022
EXTRACT: "Worse yet, the Hungarian government has effectively been helping Putin by prohibiting the shipment of weapons to Ukraine across its borders. Hungarian public TV spreads Russian disinformation day and night. The day before the election, an assembly of ordinary people expressing solidarity with Ukraine was framed on state television as a “pro-war rally.” "
Apr 13th 2022
EXTRACT: "It may well be that the Russian army’s fate has already been sealed in what is likely to be a long war. The single qualification to this may be that Russia could default to escalation using “weapons of mass destruction” of one form or another – whether tactical nuclear warheads or chemical weapons."