Fusion energy

The American Thinker ^ | June 12, 2009 | M. Simon

[Scanian]

There are a lot of fusion experiments going on in the world that don't get much publicity. Among these is Polywell Fusion. All you see in the papers is the billions spent on ITER or the billions spent on Laser Fusion. Small projects like Polywell where the spending is in millions and where the prospects for viability are near near term (years vs decades) don't seem to attract much attention from the giants of the media.

I have been studying the Polywell Fusion Reactor intensively since November of 2006 when I first saw a video of Robert Bussard, the inventor of the Polywell Fusion Reactor, giving a talk to Google. The talk is about an hour and a half long and is full of physics, engineering technical details, and prospects for the future if the device works. However, there is a much shorter video done by Daily Kos poster Roger Fox which gives a good overview of the technology. The video is not technically correct in every detail but it does give a good look for those of you short on physics, math, and engineering. As you can see this project transcends politics. I'm from the right side of the political spectrum with a rather libertarian orientation. Roger of course is from the left. Roger and I may disagree on many things but Polywell is not one of them.

There are also other resources out there. Tom Ligon, a noted science fiction author, who worked with Dr. Bussard wrote a piece for Analog Science Fiction magazine on the Polywell reactor which you can access here. Tom also did a series of videos about Polywell and his work with Dr. Bussard. You can also visit my IEC Fusion Technology blog which has news, technical discussions, and numerous useful links

[Malsua]

I’ve been watching the Polywell since Bussard’s Google presentation. It’s very promising, unlike the Tokamak.

[neverdem]

thanks, bfl

[ModelBreaker]

“20y ago this engineer heard as a student fusion was 30y away.

One real product of fusion power is this magic fusion number: p=30. It is the one constant, seemlingly.

Commercial Fusion Power Date = Today() + p”

All true. But if Polywell or other private ventures are attacking the problem, it’s a whole different time line than the government projects, which will always be thirty years out.

Real businesses don’t have that kind of timeline available. If they are putting up tens of millions of investment capital, someone thinks there’s a faster payout on its way. Who knows if they’re right. But someone smart enough to have that much money to invest thinks they are.

[steve-b]

How about being willing to settle for something that produces one heck of a lot of heat for a modest investment in electricity and contraptioneering?

You mean an electric space heater?