Fusion Power Corporation

11/03/2020

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Livermore National Lab is the culmination of a 50+ year program of developing "laser fusion." However, as was clarified for readers of the NY Times in 2012, NIF was "conceived, designed, built and funded" to support the nuclear weapons program, not to develop fusion energy (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5czjPh_Pq6hc0tBai0yejF5MEk/view?usp=sharing). On the other hand, Livermore doesn't mind the boost in taxpayer support from people mistakenly assuming fusion energy is part of their mission AND/OR that lasers are the best technology for "driving" these fusion fuel pellets --- possibly resulting in a "spin-off technology" for fusion energy.

In fact, particle accelerators are vastly superior to lasers for practical "inertial fusion" power plants. This observation has been made again and again by physicists who are expert in these matters, and recorded in publicly available reviews of the U.S. fusion energy program down through the decades. Nobody reads these dry technical reports but the answer is in there, "hidden in plain sight," if you look carefully. Here's some excerpts:

1. The 1979 Foster Committee produced a classified report which is hidden some place in the bowels of the DOE. However, Johnny Foster reported to the Energy Research Advisory Board at its May 3, 1979, meeting saying, “...heavy ion accelerators have great promise as reactor candidates because of their inherently high efficiency, developed repetitive-pulse technology, and favorable theoretical predictions of target coupling.”
2. The Jason Report of January 1983 (JSR82-302) stated, “We conclude that the uncertainties in coupling physics for high-energy heavy ions are minimal.”
3. The National Academies of Sciences Report of March 1986 entitled, “Review of the Department of Energy’s Inertial Confinement Fusion Program” stated “Heavy ion beams may well be the best eventual driver for energy applications.”
4. The 1990 report of the Fusion Policy Advisory Committee (Stever Panel) recommended parallel development of inertial and magnetic fusion with a budget level of about $30 million per year for HIF.
5. The 1993 Fusion Energy Advisory Committee (Davidson Panel) said, “We recognize the great opportunity for fusion development afforded the DOE by a modest heavy-ion driver program that leverages off the extensive target program being conducted by the Defense Department... .”
6. The 1996 FESAC (Sheffield) report said, “In agreement with previous reviews, we consider the heavy ion accelerator to be the most promising driver for energy applications.”

As a bonus, here's a short, readable article by Nobel Laureate Burton Richter: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5czjPh_Pq6hZGx3M0FSVXJOdUU/view?usp=sharing

07/26/2020

The Department of Energy Research and Innovation Act of 2018 is a potential game-changer.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/589

Specifically, the legislation in Section 307(c) that says:

"(c) Inertial Fusion Energy Research and Development.--The Director
shall support research and development activities for inertial fusion
for energy applications."

Quick refresher: Inertial fusion energy (IFE) is small fusion explosions (not too small) ignited by a "driver" (laser, particle accelerator, pulsed power, etc.) inside lithium-filled reaction chambers. The hot molten lithium circulates through a heat exchanger to drive electrical turbines (turbogenerators) like a conventional power plant (e.g., instead of burning coal, hot lithium).

Section 307(c) basically tells the DOE Office of Science to start a new IFE development program. Thinking seriously about IFE again (after ignoring it for many years), people will quickly remember (or rediscover) that "heavy-ion driven inertial fusion" (HIDIF or simply HIF) since the mid 70s has been recognized in official reviews of the U.S. fusion energy program as the most practical approach to IFE -- by far!*** Way better than lasers. Also better than magnetic confinement schemes including the tokamak (ITER). That is, heavy-ion drivers are THE BEST of all approaches to fusion energy, based on the capabilities of big particle accelerators, the technology of the Large Hadron Collider and other giant accelerator facilities in the U.S. and around the world. HIDIF/HIF is the path to real economical energy from fusion that's been blocked for 40 years by the nuclear weapons program and other special interests such as the "magnetic mafia."

The DOE Office of Science, hamstrung by these special interest groups, is ignoring 307(c) thereby "breaking the law" or at least failing to enforce it (the DOE being in the executive branch). Congressional oversight and action is required to enforce compliance with 307(c), but Congress members need to hear from constituents who want to see 307(c) enforced -- so that fusion can have a real shot at coming online in 10 years instead of 100.

Even if you don't believe what I say about heavy-ion drivers (you can read evidence from the public record here: ***https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zuzI7HwAc-k10G1Wqm9btDV6I40y-93g/view) the basic approach of inertial fusion, igniting and containing fusion explosions, is fundamental to any serious-minded program to develop and achieve fusion energy. This much is irrefutable. Therefore, continuing to ignore this entire field of inquiry (and 307(c) in particular) is nothing short of insanity. The kind of insanity that political special interests can sometimes lead us to.

Please consider contacting your Congressional Representative. Perhaps you can say (or write) something like...

"The DOE Office of Science must implement Section 307(c) of the Department of Energy Research and Innovation Act of 2018. Ignoring it, and continuing to ignore the inertial fusion approach which is one of the basic approaches to fusion energy, is nothing short of insanity at a time when the world desperately needs an enormous amount of clean cheap energy to replace fossil fuels and bring wealth to the world."
..or whatever you feel like saying. If you're at all interested please call me. I'd be more than happy to discuss this and tell you about the lobbying actions we're now taking with DOE and Congress, and how you can help. 650-906-9125 or [email protected]

Thank you!

Alex

07/04/2016

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/06/giant-us-fusion-laser-might-never-achieve-goal-report-concludes

National Ignition Facility should rethink efforts, DOE panel recommends

12/17/2015

Thanks to everyone who has "liked" Fusion Power over the past several months. Your "likes" have not gone unnoticed or unappreciated!

Here is a "thought of day" about why fusion energy has not yet been realized by the world. The main obstacles have been and continue to be political, not technical. These political obstacles are complicated, but their essence can be boiled down to this simple statement of fact: It's classified! That is to say, the technology of fusion explosions is still, to a significant extent, a classified field of study, restricted and controlled by the U.S. government and the nuclear weapons industry that continues to develop and apply this technology for the purpose of weapons rather than energy.

So, the next time you talk to someone about fusion energy and why we don't have it yet, tell them the reason: Key technology about how to do it (with fusion explosions of course, because magnetic fusion is hopeless, which is another point I'll explain in a future "post," hopefully soon --- remind me if I forget!) is still classified, FOR NO GOOD REASON. It's deplorable and tragic that declassification of certain key information about ICF (inertial confinement fusion) has not yet occurred, in effect withholding this desperately needed source of energy (health, wealth and peace) from a starving world.

05/03/2014

These guys are on to something.

A Purdue student group whose goals are to inform about energy issues and provide technical, leadership and public speaking skills for our members.

09/15/2011

Fusion power holds great promise for powering America's future. Here why and how.

08/10/2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5_TD3kpi2s

06/18/2011

Energy. Lots of it.

06/15/2011

Our new website is up!

Fusion Power Corporation Clean & Green... and Safe!

05/27/2011

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_15997665

SCOTTS VALLEY -- A local "retired" scientist with collaborators throughout the country spent last week in Germany pedaling a plan to create huge amounts of energy through decades-old fusion power science, an effort, they say, that promises to economically solve the world

05/27/2011

http://nationalhomelandsecurityknowledgebase.com/cln/news/10151.aspx

October 15, 2010 (NHSK Newswire) - Fusion Power Corporation, of Scotts Valley, California, presented plans for a program that sets the stage to design the first HEAVY ION FUSION (HIF) ENERGY PRODUCTION FACILITY.