In this photo taken in 1979, a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory employee is opening a 97,000-pound (44 ton) concrete filled door, the world’s heaviest door on a hinge, which was used to shield the Rotating Target Neutron Source-II (RTNS-II) – the world’s most intense source of continuous fusion (14 MeV) neutrons. Scientists from around the world used it to study the properties of metals and other materials that could be used deep inside fusion power plants envisioned for the next century.
The door was eight feet (2,44 meters) thick and nearly twelve feet (3,6 meters) wide at the outside and could be opened or closed either by remote control or manually – a special bearing in the hinge allowed a single person to move the door, which weighed as much as 32 automobiles (at 3,000 pounds each).
The knowledge gained from RTNS-II proved invaluable, laying critical foundations for the future of fusion energy — the very process that fuels the sun. By pushing materials to their limits, researchers learned how to design stronger, more resilient systems that bring us closer to harnessing clean, virtually limitless energy here on Earth.
Though the facility has since been decommissioned, the legacy of that enormous radiation-shielding door — and the pioneering science it guarded — continues to shape humanity’s pursuit of sustainable fusion power.
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