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A Step Closer To Cheap Nuclear Fusion
ewsnow writes "The Focus Fusion Society reports that the scientists and engineers at Lawrenceville Plasma Physics have finally built an operational Dense Plasma Focus device. While still at less than half power, they were able to achieve a pinch on their device. The small company that Eric Lerner started recently gathered enough funding to start a two-year study on the validity of his theory regarding fusion-inducing plasmoids. If the theory holds, the device will produce more electricity than it consumes. In contrast to the billions of dollars spent on Tokamak fusion (think ITER), LPP is conducting their research on a budget around a million dollars. Yet, if it works, it will provide nuclear fusion with much simpler equipment and much less cost. Eric Lerner and Focus Fusion have been discussed on Slashdot before."
Fusion is difficult, REALLY difficult. But once it gets working, it will provide abundantly cheap energy with relatively few side effects. The availability of fusion will trigger a revolution similar to the beginning of the industrial age. Cheap, clean energy with no dependence on hateful towel-heads - what's not to like?
Fusion is a long-term project, so whoever funds it risks not seeing the rewards. So all those who could be funding research are holding back in hopes that someone else will do the work for them. Shareholders demand consistent and predictable profits, so the standard capitalist model of venture capitalization no longer works for powering "ventures" in the original sense of the word.
Wouldn't it be funny if they got it working in China, say, or Japan, and they'd end up collecting lifetimes of royalties from the US?
I would love to see this (both the expensive high-power stuff and the cheap off-chance research) funded much more heavily by the governments of the world.
When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Rel
The general population shouldn't have input in things like this anyway. Leave it to the educated people please.
Just my 2 cents. o_O
In of itself nuclear reactions are predictable and can be made safe using correct precautions.
This is the classic example of the intersection of the Snepscheut/Einstein/Berra observation that "In theory there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is" with Clark's corollary of Murphy's law that "If nothing can possibly go wrong, you've overlooked something."
Basically even though nuclear reactions are entirely predictable, they are only a small part of the problem set. The real limitation is that we need much better humans to design and operate fission devices safely, and we don't have a clue about how to make them. Worse than that, it seems like most of the approaches we know how to try end up creating supercilious assholes that have been educated beyond the level of their intelligence.
Will
Yeah, but part of the issue in the financial world was that the people who understood the risk inherent in the instruments weren't working at the regulatory bodies, and that was a very simple monetary equation - if you understood it, why would you not go to the other side and get paid obscene salaries; financial innovation let them get away with a whole lot more than would be allowed if the rules were able to be applied.
One would hope though that any regulatory oversight of the energy sector would at least have a few who understood the risks.
Man who leaps off cliff jumps to conclusion.
The actual cost to build a nuclear power plant would be a secondary consideration if it weren't for the likewise insane regulatory requirements, which if you ask me are slanted disproportionately at nuclear power. Ergo, the sign wavers won, and sanity lost.
I disagree sir. Aside from the fact that nuclear energy is heavily subsidised, and would not even be profitable if it ran on its own, you can't really call the regulatory requirements insane, when potential accidents could have such a massive impact as Chernobyl's.