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NIF Aims For the Ultimate Green Energy Source

theodp writes "Edward Moses and his team of 500 scientists and engineers at Lawrence Livermore's National Ignition Facility are betting $3.5B in taxpayer money on a tiny pellet they hope could produce an endless supply of safe, clean energy. By the fall of 2010, the team aims to start blasting capsules containing deuterium-tritium fuel with 1.4 megajoules of laser power, a first step towards the holy grail of controlled nuclear fusion. Not all are convinced that Moses will lead us to the promised land. 'They're snake-oil salesmen,' says Thomas Cochran, a scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council. Moses, for his part, seems unfazed by the skepticism, saying he's confident that his team will succeed."

4 of 234 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Did slashdot just got slashdotted? by Soulskill · · Score: 5, Funny

    Greedy databases rose up and demanded free space. We negotiated a settlement.

  2. 40 years by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Moses leading a team? Will he stop and ask for directions?

  3. Re:Three points by smoker2 · · Score: 2, Funny

    You do realize that iron would become brittle as steel ...

    If the rest of your explanation is as accurate as that, I'm glad I stopped reading.

  4. Re:Deuterium is hardly "endless" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I can't tell if you're joking, but everything you said about deuterium is 100% false. There is more D in the earth's oceans (1/6500th of all the water) than we could ever imagine using for fusion. It's also extracted cheaply and easily.

    1/6500th of the ocean should be enough for anyone!