On May 26, 2009, at 1:53 PM, Terry Blanton wrote:
Considering that the ITER projected cost is almost $30B compared to
the actual cost of NIF $3.5, I think the NIF is a bargain. Besides a
possible energy source, the NIF is an excellent research tool on
fusion. It could possibly lead to an answer of how CF works.
I don't think this will give any understanding of CF. The lasers are
designed to heat the sample to millions of degrees in a few
milliseconds. The resulting plasma is intended to act like the plasma
in the Tokamak, but without the need for huge magnets and the power
they consume. While the first wall problem is reduced, a window
problem is created. This is version of hot fusion that has traded the
cost of magnets for the cost of lasers. Unfortunately, lasers burn
out faster than magnets. Consequently, CF is still in the game.
Ed
Keep the NIF. Kill the ITER.
Terry
On Tue, May 26, 2009 at 3:11 PM, thomas malloy
<[email protected]> wrote:
William J Broad
New York Times
Dear Mr. Broad;
Someone posted your article on the National Almost Ignition
Facility on
Vortex-L, scientific anomalies. I appreciate your mentioning the
reservations that some people have regarding this boondoggle. The
physics
establishment, P E, has done their best to squander as much
taxpayer money
as possible on technology, which some of us believe is a dead end.
One of
the Vortexians, Ed Storms, retired from Los Alamos National
Laboratory, has
written about a problem called the "first wall." Dr. Storms
argument is
that, even if they can succeed in getting more energy out than they
put in,
they have no idea how to solve the first wall problem. He is of the
opinion
that there is no solution to the first wall problem.
I would also like to mention my pet peeve, that there are several
alternative approaches to the problem of finding a pollution free
source of
energy. The P E, and their union the American Physical Society, has
done
their best to strangle all of these technologies in their cradle. We,
researchers in these technologies, have be self funding, while the
P E
continues pushing ahead down the dead end road, paving it with
government
money.
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