Alan Boyle brings us up to date on the latest news from the world of fusion. Of course I’m especially interested in what he has to say about Bussard Fusion and their progress to net power. I’ll give you the short version:
“We’ve been pretty busy, but it’s the same situation,” Nebel told me today. “We’re kind of in a holding pattern.”
He’s been able to keep the five-person team together and “doing a few things” during this holding pattern. There have been some rumblings to the effect that EMC2’s results have been encouraging enough to justify pressing forward, but Nebel has declined to make a prediction about the project’s future.
Nebel worries about the same kind of budget limbo that the U.S. ITER team is worrying about, even though his budget is an order of magnitude lower. Among the factors on his mind are the change in the White House and the changes in economic circumstances.
“The thing that usually gets hit the hardest is what they call discretionary funding,” Nebel said, “and that’s what we’re looking at here. That’d be the biggest fear everywhere.”
So the news is the same as it was at the end of August. No news. Alan Boyle has more on fusion power in general and Bussard Fusion in particular. You can also read my previous Fusion Reports by following the links in: Fusion Report 29 August 2008.
Cross Posted at Power and Control
Comments
3 responses to “Fusion Report 20 October 2008”
Fushion’s good, but it’s only a step towards the lfying cars.
And antigravity belts. Every time I clean out my rain gutters I think they can’t invent the damn things soon enough.
It is a good idea to be skeptical of new claims in energy. The core physics hasn’t changed and there appear to be no loopholes or shortcuts. Crisis brings opportunists.
Can’t say there will be no surprises but don’t sell the farm based on some news item or web site. Mostly, it is going to be continued hard choices – coal and nuclear.
They could use some help in other ways like finding a cheap way to grab Helium-3 for fusion reactor fuel. Hell, or find a way to get enough of it that they won’t have to worry about rationing the existing source for experimentation purpose.