The Oracle Linux and Virtualization team congratulates the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory which has made a major scientific breakthrough. NIF conducted the first controlled fusion experiment in history to reach this milestone, also known as scientific energy breakeven, meaning it produced substantially more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it. Oracle is proud to collaborate with the NIF team on computing technology used to achieve this goal. Their work will pave the way for advancements in carbon-free power generation and many other fields.
The target chamber of LLNL’s National Ignition Facility, where 192 laser beams delivered more than 2 million joules of ultraviolet energy to a tiny fuel pellet to create fusion ignition on Dec. 5, 2022. Courtesy of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a premier applied science laboratory that is part of the National Nuclear Security Administration within the U.S. Department of Energy. LLNL’s mission is strengthening national security by developing and applying cutting–edge science, technology, and engineering that respond with vision, quality, integrity, and technical excellence to scientific issues of national importance. The Laboratory’s science and engineering are being applied to achieve breakthroughs for counterterrorism and nonproliferation, defense and intelligence, energy, and environmental security. NIF’s goals are to help ensure the reliability of the nation’s nuclear weapons without underground testing; lay the groundwork for using fusion as a clean, safe energy source; and provide scientists from across the nation and around the world with the opportunity to explore new frontiers in astrophysics, materials science, nuclear science, and many other scientific disciplines.
Due to the nature of their work, it’s critical to ensure the reliability and availability of the infrastructure, and unplanned downtime must be kept to a minimum. The environment must also meet specific security requirements. Oracle products and services, such as Oracle Database, Oracle Weblogic Server, Oracle Enterprise Manager, Oracle Linux and Virtualization, met NIF’s expectations and requirements for high availability, high performance and extreme reliability at the intense workloads required during fusion experiments. To help ensure all missions use this technology to greatest advantage, NIF works in cooperation with Oracle to continually test new software features to improve their systems. Sharing early versions of product releases has allowed both organizations to learn and improve.
Congratulations again to the National Ignition Facility for their groundbreaking work!
Members of the Oracle Linux and Virtualization team visited NIF. Courtesy of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory