[staytrue]

I'm for killing this thing.

Fusion is really tough to do in a controlled, economical way.

Besides, these guys are trying to use brute force to solve a problem that demands a more elegant theory and solution.

I am sorry the super collider got killed. Who knows what knowledge could have come from that. Of course, there was a small chance it may have produced a quantum singularity that would destroy the galaxy but those are the risks you have to take.

Anyway, a few billion into nanotech or fuel cells or solar power will yield better returns.

[RightWhale]

The problem is so huge and the payoff also, that this expenditure is trivial. Besides, they don't have an elegant solution yet.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Besides, these guys are trying to use brute force to solve a problem that demands a more elegant theory and solution.

How about setting off some fusion bombs miles deep down in a hole in a salt deposit and tapping the thermal energy of the resultant well of molten material. Every time the well gets too cool to operate the generators, set off another one.

[sefarkas]

Fusion is a ruse to deny funds to working technology based on fission. I second the call to end NIF.

Fusion is not clean in that it irradiates the reactor system (i.e., make it radioactive). That presents an operating problem and a system disposal problem.

A new commercial reactor could have been built for the money already spent on NIF and put needed electric power on the grid.

If the French can make it work, then I'm sure they'll sell it to anyone. The LLNL folks interested in fusion will just have to learn French or Japanese.

The calls to privatize NIF are nonsense. How do you propose that a private business profit from NIF?

Because we send foreign aid to bad governments is a reason to continue NIF? I don't think so. The federal government needs to wash their hands of many things. I don't see the either/or.