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Fusion Reactor Project Largest After ISS

Posted by timothy on from the put-it-in-france dept.

Maktoo writes "All proper geeks know Fusion is the Way of the Future. Dec 16th is the date set for selection of the site of the new International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter). A collaboration between the EU, Japan, the U.S., Canada, China, South Korea and Russia, 'ITER would be the world's largest international cooperative research and development project after the International Space Station.' Their goal over the next decade? '[T]o produce 500 megawatts of fusion power for 500 seconds or longer during each individual fusion experiment and in doing so demonstrate essential technologies for a commercial reactor.'"

65 comments

  1. eep by NanoGator · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Fusion Reactor Project Largest After IIS"

    I'd say the odds are pretty good that somebody's going to make a Microsoft joke here.

    --
    "Derp de derp."
    1. Re:eep by NanoGator · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Off-topic my ass. The original story said "IIS", not "ISS'. The Editors can go back in time and change what was originally written, but I cannot. Don't penalize me for something I cannot change.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
  2. IIS? by swdunlop · · Score: 1

    I know that some people consider IIS to be the greatest web server around, but I don't think it really compares with the complexity of the ISS (International Space Station)

    --
    Weapons of Mass Analysis
    1. Re:IIS? by DDumitru · · Score: 1

      Although the Russians don't like it, I though it was "unoficially" names Space Station Alpha (although wasn't Alpha used in the Space 1999 brit-import sci-fi series).

    2. Re:IIS? by MarkusH · · Score: 1

      I prefer Isis.

    3. Re:IIS? by chl · · Score: 2, Informative
      largest thermonuclear disaster

      From a disaster point of view, fusion devices are extremely boring. If the reactor vessel was breached, the inrushing air would be to the plasma as the inrushing ocean on a candle flame. A magnetically confined plasma is about a factor one million less dense than normal air. It is also about one million times hotter than normal air, so you actually have a plasma pressure of one atmosphere.

      This means that the energy content of the plasma and the confining magnetic field is just enough to wreck the experiment, but not much else. The radiological risk is also negligible, because the radioactive inventory of a fusion reactor is of the order of tens of kilogrammes, enough for less than a second of operation (compared to hundreds of tons for fission reactors, which have enough for years of operation). Also, the tritium, even if it escaped the reactor building, would be gone after 120 years through decay, which is a pretty short time compared to other radionuclides.

      And yes, IAAPP (I am a plasma physicist).

      chl

  3. IIS? by dmayle · · Score: 2, Funny

    Fusion Reactor Project Largest After IIS

    Don't you mean the largest thermonuclear disaster, second only to IIS? Oh... you meant ISS...

  4. ITER Website by displague · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.iter.org/ is the ITER Project web site. The ITER U.S. is not really in production.

    --
    Marques Johansson
  5. Cold Fusion by AtariAmarok · · Score: 1

    I sure hope it is cold fusion; I need a place to put my beer.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  6. awesome stuff! by Leroy_Brown242 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I am all for more huge international projects, that aren't war!

    The more countries work together, the more it gets set into society that people from other countries are okay, and working with them is NOT like working with the enemy.

    --
    Pretty Pictures!
    1. Re:awesome stuff! by RobertB-DC · · Score: 1

      The more countries work together, the more it gets set into society that people from other countries are okay, and working with them is NOT like working with the enemy.

      You're very much right. Before the election of 2000, the US was on its way to becoming a cooperative international power. We were involved in negotiations on the Kyoto treaty, we weren't developing "Star Wars" ABM weapons, and we were even showing signs of getting with the program on such no-brainers as land mines.

      It was looking for a while like people could get along. What a difference a blown election can make. Or more specifically -- and echoing comments in other threads -- what a difference a small group of xenophobic warmongers can make in a formerly peaceful society.

      By the way, I lay the blame for this mess squarely at the feet of Mr. Al Gore. The election was his to lose, and he did so in craptacular fashion. Blaming the Supreme Court is like blaming the umpire -- if you'd really played better than the other team, you'd have won.

      (And this message is now officially 100% -1, Offtopic. Karma to burn, baby!)

      --
      Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
    2. Re:awesome stuff! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "and we were even showing signs of getting with the program on such no-brainers as land mines."

      The land-mine thing IS a no brainer, but on the other side. The US and civilized countries take care to track and remove their landmines from battlefields, so their use of land mines is NO PROBLEM and there is no need for these countries to get into a treaty about it. It is the countries that spew them all over and leave them that are a problem. These countries would likely keep doing the same thing after signing a treaty, so the land mine treaty would accomplish nothing.

      "By the way, I lay the blame for this mess squarely at the feet of Mr. Al Gore"

      Yes, running a campaign that was all lies and ill-conceived destructive proposals was no way to run an electioo. Going on CNN and claiming to invent the Internet probably did not help him either.

    3. Re:awesome stuff! by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 1

      "Before the election of 2000, the US was on its way to becoming a cooperative international power. We were involved in negotiations on the Kyoto treaty, we weren't developing "Star Wars" ABM weapons, and we were even showing signs of getting with the program on such no-brainers as land mines."

      In the spirit of the holidays I say...horseshit.

      The Senate voted 97-0 against Kyoto, not voting on the Treaty, but voting to show Clinton they were not interested in the least in the form Kyoto was taking.

      The US started devloping ABM systems in the 1950s, so did the Soviets, and while the names and forms changes the ABM systems were always being developed. In 1972 the ABM tready banned them for all but 1 location in a respective country, in the USSR that was Moscow, in the US it was Grand Forks ND. Then the US decommed the Sprint site in 1974 and we didn't have anything. In the 1980s they revived work on an ASAT system and a combination of energy and explosive and nuclear ABM systems under the catch-all "Star Wars". The ASAT missile worked, but was decommed, everything else trickled down through the late 80s and 90s, eventually ending up in today's ABM system of Patriots, Standards, phased-array radars and the new Interceptors atop old Minuteman missiles.

      Don't for a second think that the current systems in testing were pulled out of George W. Bush's ass or something, all that was being worked on during the Clinton administration too.

      As for the ban on land-mines, that wasn't ever going to happen as long as the Anti-Mine folks wouldn't give the US the exclusion for the Korean DMZ. The US has about 2.5-3 million mines there, all nicely mapped and organized and wanted either an extension to move them or an exclusion for them, nope ain't going to happen.

      From 1998
      "The Clinton administration is asking Congress for
      relief from a moratorium on using anti-personnel land mines, saying the halt would needlessly endanger U.S. service members.

      The only alternative to land mines now is to use greater force. "If we were to do that in Korea, we would have to deploy 17,000 additional troops, 350 additional tanks, 410 additional Bradley fighting vehicles, 24additional helicopters and 144 other aircraft," Bacon said. "So it would mean a very substantial increase in our forces in a very short period of time, because we assume that in Korea our warning would be very, very short."

      http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May1998 n05111998_9805119.html

    4. Re:awesome stuff! by SEE · · Score: 1

      Oh, yes.

      The Kyoto Treaty, which the U.S. Senate unanimously declared it would not ratify.

      The "Star Wars" ABM weapons we weren't developing, except for through the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, which is the name under which Clinton continued to fund the Reagan-established Strategic Defense Initiative Organization.

      The land mine treaty, which Clinton refused to sign because it didn't include the Korea exemption.

      Meanwhile, those of us back here on planet Earth note that the difference between the Clinton and Bush foreign policies are a few stylistic flourishes and a few minor details around the edges. Heck, even Clinton invaded a country, bypassing a recalitrant UNSC, with a coalition of the willing -- Kosovo.

      (Of course, since European lives are valuable, unlike those of Kurds or Marsh Arabs, Kosovo was justified despite the fact that it was an illegal war of agression, unjustified by any threat Serbia posed to any of the invading nations, and of no straegic consequence.)

    5. Re:awesome stuff! by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      I am all for more huge international projects, that aren't war!

      But if we called it "The War on Fossil Fuels" Congress would fund it better. They're particularly fond of that metaphor.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  7. Great Scott! by NanoGator · · Score: 3, Funny

    "[T]o produce 500 megawatts of fusion power for 500 seconds or longer during each individual fusion experiment and in doing so demonstrate essential technologies for a commercial reactor"

    500 megawatts? Wow, that's almost in the gigawatt range. If anybody's curious, I found a mockup of what the commercial product will look like.

    --
    "Derp de derp."
    1. Re:Great Scott! by Randolpho · · Score: 1

      Wow, that's almost in the gigawatt range.

      Yes, and all they need is 1.21 to time travel!

      --
      "Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
      -Marilyn Manson
    2. Re:Great Scott! by neocon · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.

      If someone else screws your girlfriend so much that you don't get to, you stay a virgin. If brave US soldiers go fight terrorists overseas so you don't have to fight them here, you get to live in peace.

      Any questions?

    3. Re:Great Scott! by /dev/trash · · Score: 1

      500 MW is good but you need 1.21 Gigawatts for that to work

    4. Re:Great Scott! by jlehtira · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Indeed. The fighters will never know peace, but I sure am grateful that USA is making itself THE target for all those nutty terrorists.

      Then again, Hussein's not my girlfriend..

      Seriously; it's only a matter of time that everybody gets nuclear weapons, so quarreling with half the world seems a bit.. Overconfident?

    5. Re:Great Scott! by Bearpaw · · Score: 1
      Seriously; it's only a matter of time that everybody gets nuclear weapons, so quarreling with half the world seems a bit.. Overconfident?

      Confident is the attitude that they're trying to project. My impression is that it's really a bizarre combination of arrogant and desperate. I'm afraid that what the US Admin is really doing is the political equivalent of artificially inflating the stock price. The collapse is gonna be really ugly.

    6. Re:Great Scott! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Any questions?

      Yes: who's screwing the US soldier's girlfriends while they're overseas?

  8. It doesn't work that way by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It doesn't work that way, as familiarity does not erase contempt. The Serbs have lived alongside the Bosnians and others for centuries, and still they have tried to exterminate them at different times. Same with Germans and Jews, or Muslims and Jews.

    For many, it is just a change to get closer to their enemy.

    1. Re:It doesn't work that way by Leroy_Brown242 · · Score: 1

      I was thinking about it on a more personal level.

      For years I grew up around some of the lowest cast of hispanic people. The poor, undereducated, whatever. basicly, hispanic white trash.
      When I moved out into the tech sector though, I found out how wrong I was. Spending time with a broader range of hispanics made me realise exactly how wrong I was. Now, I hate everyone based on how dumb they are, and not the colour of thier skin.

      My hope is, that with countries working on a personal level, they will grow friends with people from other nations. If thier attitude changes, and they pass that on to friends, family, and children, then good will have been done.

      --
      Pretty Pictures!
    2. Re:It doesn't work that way by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 1
      It doesn't work that way, as familiarity does not erase contempt. The Serbs have lived alongside the Bosnians and others for centuries, and still they have tried to exterminate them at different times. Same with Germans and Jews, or Muslims and Jews.

      For many, it is just a change to get closer to their enemy.


      The thing is, that in all the cases you cited, these groups lived together for centuries and didn't try to exterminate each other -- until small groups of fanatics whipped up ancient hatreds to further their own political ends. Hatred of "The Other" may be a natural human emotion, but it's not inevitable. When you get right down to it, most people, in most times and places, really just want to live in peace so they can get on with their business. Look at almost any example of internecine war in history, and you'll find a few whackos and a bunch of sheep, not genuine mass movements.
      --
      The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
    3. Re:It doesn't work that way by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "The thing is, that in all the cases you cited, these groups lived together for centuries and didn't try to exterminate each other "

      No, they did not. The Arab empire encoded into law policies to punish people for being jewish (such as special taxes). The Serb pogroms against the non-serbs in that area go back centuries (starting with the invasion in the first millenium.

      "you'll find a few whackos and a bunch of sheep, not genuine mass movements."

      Once the wacos get enough sheep to go along, it becomes a msss movement.

  9. Website by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    I'd go and learn all about this project if their website wasn't on drugs.

    Neon-gradient backgrounds? What is this, 1995?

  10. Neutron Source by tchdab1 · · Score: 1

    Does this project get the funding it does because a fusion reactor is also a neutron source?

    And what can be done with a high flux of neutrons?

    An excercise for the reader.

    1. Re:Neutron Source by deglr6328 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      High flux neutron beams are commonly available from plain old fission reactors. I doubt they'd go through the trouble.

      --
      - "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
    2. Re:Neutron Source by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      penetrate your tinfoil hat perhaps?

      it's not like it's a good way to get them even is it? the reason to do them is to 'unleash the power of the atom' so to speak.. or rather not unleash it but put it on a leash so we can use it.

      cheap electricity is worth investing for.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    3. Re:Neutron Source by confused+one · · Score: 1

      The neutrons are going to be (eventually) absorbed in a liquid lithium metal jacket. The lithium absorbs the neutrons to create tritium and or deuterium which can be extracted and recycled back into the reactor as fuel

    4. Re:Neutron Source by RobertB-DC · · Score: 1

      The lithium absorbs the neutrons to create tritium and or deuterium

      I'm not a nuclear physicist, but I'm always curious about the processes involved. Wikipedia says that Li has two natural isotopes (6-Li and 7-Li), and that 8-Li (with the added neutron) has a half-life of less than a second.

      The extra neutron in 8-Li gets converted to a proton plus a high-energy electron (a Beta Particle). That leaves you with 4 protons and 4 neutrons, which could simply remain 8-Be. Apparently, though, it's more likely to fly apart into a pair of Alpha particles -- which are just 4-He without any electrons.

      But I don't see where we get the Deuterium and Tritium you mentioned. Do the Alpha particles interact with the Lithium to generate even more cool nucleotides?

      --
      Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
    5. Re:Neutron Source by krysith · · Score: 2, Informative

      It is the Li-6 that generates the additional tritium when it is hit by neutrons. A useful reference. The tritium must be regenerated because it is rather expensive. Deuterium on the other hand is cheap and plentiful, and thus does not require regeneration.

    6. Re:Neutron Source by chl · · Score: 1
      The tritium must be regenerated because it is rather expensive.

      Tritium also has a half life of about 12 years, so that even if it did grow on trees, it would be practically gone after 120 years, so it does not accumulate in nature the way coal, oil etc. do. Breeding tritium on a JIT basis therefore is the best way.

      chl

    7. Re:Neutron Source by chl · · Score: 1
      And what can be done with a high flux of neutrons?

      Breed fissionable reactor fuel from thorium to keep the fission plants running until we can switch to all fusion? Although I doubt the ITER team can afford to waste money and effort on this. Also, the earth's uranium resources are not going to run out until long after the ITER timeframe.

      Then, there are the neutron diagnostics for the solid state physicists, but they can usually make do with conventional fission-based neutron sources.

      chl

  11. Another possibility... by deglr6328 · · Score: 5, Informative

    As someone who works in the laser fusion camp(though just as a lowly technician), I feel obligated to point out that there may be something of a dark horse in the race to fusion power currently in the running... Besides the obvious method of magnetic confinement in Tokamaks and Stellarators, which do still have the best chance at becoming true fusion reactors of the future attaining ignition and breakeven; there is another way that inertial confinement fusion using lasers may still hold promise. There are 2 new beams (will be called "Omega EP")currently being built which will be added to the 60 beam 60 Terawatt Omega Laser in the next few years. What is special about these new lasers is they are over 1,000 TIMES more powerful than the old Omega beams at over 1 Petawatt each! The new lasers will be used to ignite a Hydrogen fuel capsule at exactly the moment of highest compression by the old Omega laser, sort of acting like a spark plug effect. The GekkoXII laser in Japan which has a (much weaker) Petawatt laser attached to it's also less powerful compressing laser recently verified this method as increasing fusion yield by a couple orders of magnitude, this puts the Omega laser as having a very high likelihood of igniting it's fusion capsules by using the new laser in conjunction with the old 60 beam Omega. If someone can then figure out how to ramp the laser up to a high pulse repetition rate (burning many capsules/second) possibly using a diode pumped Nd:glass system then you have a real contender for a fusion power plant.

    --
    - "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
    1. Re:Another possibility... by Councilor+Hart · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Most fusion-research in the EU is with tokomaks and stellerators, indeed.
      A lott of the research into ICF (inertial confinement fusion, meaning with lasers) happens in the United States.

      I guess it's no coincident that fusion through tokomaks can only be used as a power source, but ICF also as a weapon.

    2. Re:Another possibility... by deglr6328 · · Score: 2, Informative

      I suppose then it should also come as no surprise to you that France is building a new megajoule class laser (right on par with the US's NIF project) to test its nuclear weapon simulations.

      --
      - "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
    3. Re:Another possibility... by Councilor+Hart · · Score: 1

      Well, France is part of the european union. It's not the european union.
      The policy of EFDA, if I am not mistaking (could be euratom as well) is that research in fusion can only be for peaceful-puposes.
      I was referring to that, not to projects undertaken by a specific country.

    4. Re:Another possibility... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      huh? because France is pursuing nuclear weapons testing with ICF they now are not "the EU". please. go back to your fantasy world of black and white and total right and wrong.

    5. Re:Another possibility... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I guess it's no coincident that fusion through tokomaks can only be used as a power source, but ICF also as a weapon.

      Let me guess: they're going to refit a navy cruiser to carry one of these enormous heavy laser systems. Then they're going to pull the ship right up next to the target, drop a pinhead sized pellet of hydrogen on it, and ignite it so that it explodes with all of the force of a stick of dynamite.

      This awesome new ship is going to have more firepower than a 15th century Spanish galeon!

    6. Re:Another possibility... by Councilor+Hart · · Score: 1

      They are PART of the EU.
      As Texas or Florida is part of the USA.
      Or is California = USA
      So perhaps Schwarzenegger = president of the USA?

  12. Finally! by NegativeK · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's good to see the US back on big-science again. After the Super-Collider in Texas fell through.. What was it, half the budget spent, and they dropped a project that could open up amazing new areas in particle physics?
    Then there's JET, which America pulled out of.. From what I understand, most of the new grounds in fusion research occured there.
    Oh, and who can forget - the moon. We dropped that like a bad habit. When it comes to big science, this country seems to have the attention span of a goldfish. Sure, we'll make great strides, but then we'll just.. Drop it if it doesn't push votes for the politicians anymore. Argh.

    Let's just hope that we stick to this project.

    --
    This statement is false.
    1. Re:Finally! by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      It's good to see the US back on big-science again. [SSC,JET,etc.]

      And curious which administration killed the projects and which is getting on board. Not what one might expect.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  13. missing countries by theMerovingian · · Score: 1, Interesting


    A collaboration between the EU, Japan, the U.S., Canada, China, South Korea and Russia

    What about Iran and North Korea? Surely they have nuclear experience to bring to the table...

    --
    "If you think you have things under control, you're not going fast enough." --Mario Andretti
    1. Re:missing countries by kippy · · Score: 1

      I think they will have more to offer on the fission side of things. Fission we've got. This new project is fussion.

      --
      Blaze a trail to the New World
    2. Re:missing countries by chl · · Score: 1
      This new project is fussion.

      Great, I'm all confussed now.

      chl

  14. It doesn't work that way, still by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It still does not always work that way, on a personal level. The Serbs had Kosovars and Croats for neighbors. The big anti-semites have lived right alongside Jews. The KKK have been among African-Americans.

    1. Re:It doesn't work that way, still by Leroy_Brown242 · · Score: 1

      Well, cheers, Here's to hoping.

      Maybe what the world needs is a better attitude. I know you're being real, I know you are being truthfull. I know that you've not told any lies, I know you have not stretched any truths.

      People are hatefull
      People are stubburn
      People inherit predjudices from thier parents
      People learn hate, they aren't born with it.

      Dammit, I strayed from the point again.

      --
      Pretty Pictures!
  15. MOD PARENT UP!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The dude made a joke that was modded as funny. Then, the story was changed, ruining the joke. Then, he got modded down for it. It's not fair to the users to get modded down for making a joke that somebody found funny because the powers that be have abilities that us average Joe's don't.

    Not cool. Dudes with mod-points: Show a little compassion, will ya?

  16. What really happened. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "You're very much right. Before the election of 2000, the US was on its way to becoming a cooperative international power. We were involved in negotiations on the Kyoto treaty, we weren't developing "Star Wars" ABM weapons"

    Kyoto is all politics (designed to damage certain economies) and no science. There is nothing wrong wiht "Star Wars" unless you are planning to lob warheads at the U.S. If you aren't then there should be no complaint.

    "what a difference a small group of xenophobic warmongers can make in a formerly peaceful society."

    You must be referring to Iraq. There certainly aren't any such in power in the U.S.

    What happened after 2000 was that the U.S. decided to behave more responsibly.

  17. Except it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity"

    Except it isn't. Military efforts to bring ends to wars are a proven successful method to bring about peace. Start with D-Day.

  18. It's called accuracy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "go back to your fantasy world of black and white and total right and wrong."

    It is not a fantasy to describe things as they actual are, and sometimes black/white, good/evil, right/wrong is a very accurate description.

    "Right and wrong - do you know the difference
    Right and wrong - do you know the difference
    'tween the right and the left and the east and the west
    What you know and the things that you'll never see" - Joe Jackson.

  19. Yes, lots of questions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have lots of questions. I only watch Clinton News Network and listen to National Palestinian Radio (CNN and NPR), so I really don't understand these matters.

  20. Still another possibility by wfbush · · Score: 1

    General Fusion

    Similar to inertial confinement, but without all the expensive lasers and without said lasers using up huge amounts of power themselves making breakeven pretty tenuous.

    1. Re:Still another possibility by deglr6328 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I can't help but think that organization is BS. The initial acoustic cavitation fusion experiment which was said to have produced neutrons was never sucessfully repeated. The method described in that website of using Lithium as the cavitation "pusher" has, to my knowledge, not even been attempted or if it has, has never been published. As to their claim that "It is the goal of General Fusion to develop this reactor and generate clean, safe and economical fusion energy by the end of 2004."...well... that's just insane.

      --
      - "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
    2. Re:Still another possibility by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      General Fusion is nothing compared to Blacklight Power So there, nyah nyah!

  21. Re:What really happened. by RobertB-DC · · Score: 1

    The anonymous one wrote:
    What happened after 2000 was that the U.S. decided to behave more responsibly.

    Actually, after 2000, Bush tried to pretend that the rest of the world didn't exist. Once he got reminded otherwise on September 11, he still didn't have a clue, so Cheney, Rumsfeld & co got free rein.

    I won't get into a further discussion with an AC except to say this: I pray for my cousin, a Captain with the 4th ID in Iraq, every time I hear of another attack on our (undermanned) forces. And that's several times a day, now.

    --
    Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
  22. Re:It doesn't work that way, still STILL! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "People are hatefull...."

    Some are, some are not. Many of the ones are hateful can't be cured by understanding and togetherness. It can go far, but not all the way.

  23. Re:What really happened. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Actually, after 2000, Bush tried to pretend that the rest of the world didn't exist."

    No, he did not. Administration interactions with foreign diplomats and representatives on a variety of non-military issues, billions in non-military aid flowing out of the country, meetings with G8, trade meetings, hosting foreigners, the list goes on and on and on of a huge amount of time and money by this administration devoted to foreign matters (even non-military) pre-9/11. Your claim, sir, is very far from the truth.

    "Once he got reminded otherwise on September 11, he still didn't have a clue,"

    No, he went into office with a much more realistic view of the world than Clinton had. He's the best man for the job since he has the clue.

    "I won't get into a further discussion with an AC except to say this:"

    Nice way to duck the argument.

  24. He had a clue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    he still didn't have a clue, so Cheney, Rumsfeld & co got free rein.

    Because he had a clue, he appointe an A-List of competant and visionary persons who have dared to go after the terrorism problem by dealing with the root cause of it. These competant government officials who are doing the right thing, however, answer to the President and are not given free reigh.

  25. Vortex Plasma Containment by plainvanilla · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There is a theoretical physicist in the UK supporting himself as a tutor while working on getting a plasma to contain itself with the electric/magnetic fields that arise from it's own vortex. He's experiencing some technical difficulties at this time jump-starting the vortex, but hey, if it was easy everyone would do it. So far, he has managed to create a tornado in a petri dish No, I am not making this up. Take a look: http://www.peter-thomson.co.uk/tornado/fusion/Intr oduction_to_the_charge_sheath_vortex.html

  26. Kosovo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Kosovo was justified despite the fact that it was an illegal war of agression, unjustified by any threat Serbia posed to any of the invading nations, and of no straegic consequence.) "

    It was not illegal, and it was not a war of aggression. It was to stop Serbia's war of aggression against Kosovo.

    The only mistake the U.S. has made is to refuse the recognize Kosovo's independence (or maybe we should refer to it by its native name, Kosova). Kosovo was forcibly joined to Serbia by Woodrow Wilson, and during the 1990s it voted to secede just as Croatia did.

  27. Or we could all stop acting like children... by windside · · Score: 1

    Yet another cheap shot to join the thousands that are fired from within Europe toward the "Wild West" on a daily basis. I'm a Canadian living in Japan so I have two degrees of outsider-ness; let me tell you, it's starting to get ridiculous.

    Seriously, grow up.

    --
    ...Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
    Churchill
  28. Actually, France _is_ the EU site by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    EU has decided to use the French city of Cadarache as their single proposal for ITER.

    Now it's down to a final match between the EU and Japanese proposals. Considering Caradache's expertise in nuclear power, and the fact that Japan is a set of islands prone to earthquakes, hopefully France will win ..