James Hrynyshyn is a freelance science journalist based in western North Carolina, where he tries to put degrees in marine biology and journalism to good use.
The good news is the world's technological powerhouses have finally agreed to get off their collective butts and start building ITER, the big fusion power experiment. The bad news is they're only planning on spending $12.8 billion on it. That's it?
I mean, come on. $12.8 paltry billion? The U.S., which is a junior partner in the international consortium and only recently rejoined after balking at the cost a few years ago, is spending that much fighting a war in Iraq every two or three months!
Sure, fusion is going to be expensive. It almost certainly won't be feasible until half way through the century (although Ray Kurweil would have us believe that by then, all our problems will be solved anyway). And there are still some safety issues to worry about, including neutron radiation from the reactor housing.
But nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight, and there is no free lunch. Plus, small-scale energy generation from widely applied renewables won't meet larger metropolitan needs. For that, centralized, high-power sources will still be necessary once the oil is gone. Even a small chance at making fusion work is surely worth a few months of the debacle in Iraq.
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Comments
I thought your readers would be interested in looking at these energy technologies:
Aneutronic Fusion: Here I am not talking about the big science ITER project taking thirty years, but the several small alternative plasma fusion efforts.
There are three companies pursuing hydrogen-boron plasma toroid fusion, Paul Koloc, Prometheus II, Eric Lerner, Focus Fusion and Clint Seward of Electron Power Systems
Vincent Page (a technology officer at GE!!) gave a presentation at the 05 6th symposium on current trends in international fusion research , which high lights the need to fully fund three different approaches to P-B11 fusion
He quotes costs and time to development of P-B11 Fusion as tens of million $, and years verses the many decades and ten Billion plus $ projected for ITER and other "Big" science efforts.
And:
Should Google go nuclear
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1996321846673788606
If anyone could make the Fusor work it probably would be Google.
Also:
The Navy Heats up "Cold Fusion" with Use of CR-39 Detectors in LENR Experiment:
Extraordinary Evidence - "Cold Fusion"
The field of low energy nuclear reactions, historically known as cold fusion, has never had simple physical evidence of the claimed nuclear processes to physically place in the hands of doubters.
Until now.
Scientists at the U.S. Navy’s San Diego SPAWAR Systems Center have produced something unique in the 17-year history of the scientific drama historically known as cold fusion: simple, portable, highly repeatable, unambiguous, and permanent physical evidence of nuclear events using detectors that have a long track record of reliability and acceptance among nuclear physicists.
Using a unique experimental method called co-deposition, combined with the application of external electric and magnetic fields, and recording the results with standard nuclear-industry detectors, researchers have produced what may be the most convincing evidence yet in the pursuit of proof of low energy nuclear reactions.
New Energy Times, issue #19
"Extraordinary Evidence"
http://newenergytimes.com/news/2006/NET19.htm#ee
Regards,
Erich
Erich J. Knight
Shenandoah Gardens
E-mail: shengar@aol.com
(540) 289-9750
Posted by: Erich J. Knight | November 22, 2006 11:10 PM