The Z Pulsed Power Facility (Z Machine) is the largest high frequency electromagnetic wave generator in the world. It was designed and constructed to test the behavior of materials in extreme temperature and pressure. It evolved from previous machines to its current configuration in 1996. It is used primarily as an inertial confinement fusion research facility. It gathers data to help with computer modeling of nuclear weapons and to help model processes in nuclear fusion pulsed power plants. It is operated by the Sandia National Laboratories.
The U.S. Z Machine fires two and three quarters million joules of energy at a target consisting of a small spool wound with hundreds of tungsten wires that are thinner than a human hair. When the pulse passes through the tungsten wires, they explode, evaporate and create a plasma with a powerful magnetic field that forces the particles in the plasma together. The particles collide and produce intense radiation that consist mostly of X-rays. This creates conditions that imitate a real nuclear explosion.
China is currently working on their own version of the Z Machine. This Z Machine will produce much more electricity in a sharp pulse that the U.S. Z Machine. The Chinese Z Machine is being built for the Chinese military by the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics at the Chinese nuclear weapons development base in the city of Mianyang. It is expected to be operational by 2022.
The Chinese Z Machine will produce about sixty million joules of energy in a fraction of a second. This is over twenty times the two and three quarters million joules generated by the U.S. Z Machine. A Chinese nuclear physicist said, “The intensity is unprecedented. With so much energy, we can heat a target to more than 100 million degrees Celsius. It will dwarf the machine in Sandia.” Liu Bo is an associate professor with the Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Sichuan University in Chengdu, China. He said that the Chinese Z Machine might be powerful enough to start nuclear fusion in the compressed plasma cloud.
The Chinese say that they are not involved in a nuclear arms race with the U.S. and Russia. However, a Chinese newspaper recently said that the Chinese Z Machine was going to be used to surpass the U.S. in nuclear weapons development. One Chinese commentator said that the Chinese have an advantage in such research because of continuing strong support from the Chinese government.
There are very serious technical challenges in the development of Z Machines that face both the U.S. and Chinese research efforts. One major technical problem that faces Z Machines is the possibility that fusion in a Z Machine could produce a huge quantity of fast neutron which would weaken or damage critical components.
The Chinese may use their Z Machine to develop what is called a “pure” fusion bomb. Such a bomb could be made any size. It would cost a fraction of the cost of building current nuclear warheads. Theoretically, a pure fusion bomb would burn “cleanly” and not produce any radioactive fallout.