Primary Intelligence Asset

LANL Fusion Capabilities 2019

Declassified Public record OCR verified
INTEL

Executive Summary

This document outlines Los Alamos National Laboratory's (LANL) research and development capabilities in nuclear fusion, including their history with plasma physics and current experimental projects. It details how the lab collaborates with government agencies and private partners to advance fusion energy, weapons technology, and basic science.
Analysis Confidence: High
ST_CODE: 940F7E

System Metadata

Source ID

DOC-LANL_FUS

Process Date

8/9/2026

Integrity Hash

SHA256-awyzkvd2bnc...

Indexer Status

COMPLETE

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INVESTIGATIVE ANALYSIS

Summary

This document outlines Los Alamos National Laboratory's (LANL) research and development capabilities in nuclear fusion, including their history with plasma physics and current experimental projects. It details how the lab collaborates with government agencies and private partners to advance fusion energy, weapons technology, and basic science.

Origin

The document was produced by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), specifically the P-24 Plasma Physics Team, and managed by Triad National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s NNSA. It was prepared for the INFUSE workshop.

Purpose

The purpose was to brief participants of the INFUSE workshop on LANL's fusion capabilities to foster collaboration. The research aims to solve technical challenges in high-beta plasmas, magnetized target fusion, and plasma diagnostics for both energy production and national security applications.

Why It Matters

" The document is highly relevant due to its focus on Field-Reversed Configurations (FRC) and high-beta plasmas, which are central to both compact fusion energy and advanced aerospace propulsion concepts. It explicitly links the Physics and Theory Divisions with the 'X Division' (Weapons), illustrating the dual-use nature of plasma research. Furthermore, the involvement of ARPA-E (ALPHA project) and NNSA connects civilian energy innovation with strategic defense funding streams. "

Key Claims

  • › Dr. John Kline served as the Fusion Energy Sciences and Inertial Fusion program manager at LANL in 2019.
  • › The Plasma Liner Experiment (PLX) utilized 18 plasma guns in a hemispherical geometry on a 2.75 meter diameter chamber in early 2019.
  • › Glen Wurden was the Team Leader for the Magnetized Plasma Team in the P-24 division at the time of the workshop.
  • › LANL provided high-resolution imaging for the W7-X stellarator using a reentrant endoscope equipped with a FLIR Infrared camera (512 x 512 pixels at 310 Hz).
  • › The document identifies Triad National Security, LLC as the management entity for LANL on behalf of the Department of Energy’s NNSA.

Contribution to the Field

This document provides a detailed organizational map of LANL’s fusion leadership, including specific program managers, team leaders, and the exact hardware specifications for the Plasma Liner Experiment (PLX) and W7-X diagnostic tools.

External Primary Sources (8)

Verified external sources that corroborate the claims in this document.

patent
US Patent 9,947,420 B2 — Magnetic field plasma confinement for compact fusion power
patent
US Patent 9,959,942 — Compact fusion reactor
patent
US Patent 9,502,202 B2 — Compact cylindrical plasma fusion reactor with coherent beam emission
news 2023-08-30
Skunk Works Halted Nuclear Fusion Effort Before 2021 — Aviation Week
Steve Trimble
reference
Lockheed Martin Compact Fusion Reactor — Wikipedia
conference 2019
Recent Achievements in the C-2W Field-Reversed Configuration Experiment — APS DPP19
TAE Technologies
paper 2019-06-05
Formation of hot, stable, long-lived field-reversed configuration plasmas on the C-2W device — Nuclear Fusion
H. Gota et al.
corporate
Compact Fusion — Lockheed Martin

Full Transcript

No transcript available.

Cited In (1 references)

Frequently Asked Questions

What is this document? ▾
This document outlines Los Alamos National Laboratory's (LANL) research and development capabilities in nuclear fusion, including their history with plasma physics and current experimental projects. It details how the lab collaborates with government agencies and private partners to advance fusion e...
Where does this document come from? ▾
The document was produced by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), specifically the P-24 Plasma Physics Team, and managed by Triad National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s NNSA. It was prepared for the INFUSE workshop.
What is the research purpose of this document? ▾
The purpose was to brief participants of the INFUSE workshop on LANL's fusion capabilities to foster collaboration. The research aims to solve technical challenges in high-beta plasmas, magnetized target fusion, and plasma diagnostics for both energy production and national security applications.
Where is this document cited in the investigation? ▾
This document is referenced in 1 places across the investigation: 1 Research Rounds. See the "Cited In" section below for the complete list of pages that reference this document.