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US to halt nuclear fusion project
NewScientist.com ^ | 17:04 30 July 04 | Maggie McKee

Posted on 08/01/2004 9:48:34 AM PDT by ckilmer

click here to read article


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To: The Duke

Not to mention that telecommuting and homeschooling via the internet could bring families closer together.


21 posted on 08/01/2004 10:26:03 AM PDT by PersonalLiberties (An honest politician is one who, when he's bought, stays bought. -Simon Cameron, political boss)
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To: biblewonk
Fusion research should be supported in the US. We can discuss the exact mechanism to use, but the goal is clear. It is as if we look from one mountain top to another, but the clouds below block our vision of the precise road that we should take.

Invest some money in educating our children in technical subjects and they will find the trail to the other mountain top.

22 posted on 08/01/2004 10:30:06 AM PDT by Citizen Tom Paine (An old sailor believes in the youth of this country.)
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To: ckilmer
Awful news. We need a full-court press to develop technologies to render oil power obsolete. Fusion is an important part of that equation.
23 posted on 08/01/2004 10:30:53 AM PDT by Physicist
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To: ckilmer

I no a lot of physics and I remember that they split a hydrogen attom into one helium attom and one carbon attom.


24 posted on 08/01/2004 10:31:39 AM PDT by Lazamataz ("Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown" -- harpseal)
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To: RightWhale
It isn't the money so much as the lack of ideas...

Agree w/ all of the above.

25 posted on 08/01/2004 10:36:34 AM PDT by skinkinthegrass (Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you :)
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To: Physicist

Fusion power would be if it existed. ITER might be the best idea so far, but why should funding be so restricted that it needs an international project to get built? In the meantime scientists are looking at their retirement packages instead of working on reactor problems as they appear.


26 posted on 08/01/2004 10:37:04 AM PDT by RightWhale (Withdraw from the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty and establish property rights)
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To: biblewonk
Good, now we can use the money for windpower.

...only if Congress, supplies the hot air...problem solved. :))

27 posted on 08/01/2004 10:39:52 AM PDT by skinkinthegrass (Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you :)
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To: ckilmer
the US needs to be serious about fusion energy. the promise is too great to ignore.

But as with manned space exploration and stem cells, the lesson for conservatives should be clear by now: let's not sit on our butts waiting for the government to do it! Advanced research is tricky and dangerous, and for these reasons - not because it's expensive - the federosaurus is not going to go adventuring on our behalf. Enterprises like this belong in the private sector, responsible to nothing and no one, engaged in by people who are willing to risk their lives.

28 posted on 08/01/2004 10:45:52 AM PDT by BlazingArizona
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To: RightWhale
This should have been done 20 years ago. Ask your elected representative why this hasn't been done. Watch a confused look flash across his face.

The confused face would just be a put-on though. They know exactly why it hasn't been done. Money needs to be spread about in such a way as to insure reelection. There are maybe a dozen guys between the House and Senate that truly work for the best interests of the country.

Spending money on far sighted R&D and exploration things does NOT insure reelection...

29 posted on 08/01/2004 10:52:41 AM PDT by Axenolith (This space for rent.)
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To: ckilmer

No, the U.S. needs to get serious about new-gen fission reactors. There should be an "X-Prize" for designing a low-CAPEX, failsafe fission powerplant.


30 posted on 08/01/2004 10:55:45 AM PDT by eno_ (Freedom Lite, it's almost worth defending.)
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To: staytrue
I think fusion energy is a joke.

It terrifies me that you may be right.  There's no way the sun has enough wood to keep from going out before my tan is just right.
31 posted on 08/01/2004 10:57:32 AM PDT by gcruse (http://gcruse.typepad.com/)
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To: ckilmer; PersonalLiberties
chinese are not players here.

China has plans to build as many as 32 large 1,000-megawatt nuclear power reactors over the next 16 years.

China orders emergency shipments of coal
China to Build More Nuclear Power Plants

32 posted on 08/01/2004 11:01:33 AM PDT by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: Frank_Discussion; RightWhale

hard science ping

please ping the other "usual suspects" - I am drawing a blank on their userIDs. thanks


33 posted on 08/01/2004 11:11:29 AM PDT by King Prout ("Thou has been found guilty and convicted of malum zambonifactum most foul... REPENT!)
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To: Lazamataz

I no a lot of physics and I remember that they split a hydrogen attom into one helium attom and one carbon attom.
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darn feel bad for the guy who paid you. oh no those were tax dollars weren't they. I suspose a body could get some satisfaction from swindling the government.


34 posted on 08/01/2004 11:15:30 AM PDT by ckilmer
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To: Axenolith

That is probably the main factor. Election and reelection puts a very short limit to any planning for development. Any project needs to be over in 2 years.


35 posted on 08/01/2004 11:15:32 AM PDT by RightWhale (Withdraw from the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty and establish property rights)
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To: BlazingArizona

But as with manned space exploration and stem cells, the lesson for conservatives should be clear by now: let's not sit on our butts waiting for the government to do it! Advanced research is tricky and dangerous, and for these reasons - not because it's expensive - the federosaurus is not going to go adventuring on our behalf. Enterprises like this belong in the private sector, responsible to nothing and no one, engaged in by people who are willing to risk their lives.
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bull hockey. some of the best money the feds spend is on research. most modern technologies have received seed money from fed agencies like DARPA.


36 posted on 08/01/2004 11:18:27 AM PDT by ckilmer
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To: ckilmer

You don't no no fisiks, do you?


37 posted on 08/01/2004 11:20:09 AM PDT by Lazamataz ("Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown" -- harpseal)
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To: wideminded
Nearly three decades ago I went on a tour of PPPL. The scientist leading the tour said that they were telling congress that they expected to build a working power station by the year 2000.

Ditto that. I talked to some of the Princton guys back then, and they were cock sure their Tokamac thing would work.

38 posted on 08/01/2004 11:21:34 AM PDT by Ditto ( No trees were killed in sending this message, but billions of electrons were inconvenienced.)
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To: Lazamataz

> "I no a lot of physics and I remember that they split a hydrogen attom into one helium attom and one carbon attom." <

This is a joke, right?


39 posted on 08/01/2004 11:36:10 AM PDT by MainFrame65
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To: gcruse
It terrifies me that you may be right. There's no way the sun has enough wood to keep from going out before my tan is just right.

It's also a good thing we use coal in our thermonuclear warheads. This way we're not dependent on foreign oil to power our joke fusion warheads.

40 posted on 08/01/2004 11:38:48 AM PDT by RogueIsland
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