Open Letter on Fusion

Over the past decade, research on alternate fusion protocols has blossomed while the one off Tokomak approach has swallowed financial and human resources to modest effect.  There is a simple answer of course.  Just demand that Tokamak receive fifty percent private financing and do the same for all other protocols.  This will quickly reapply capital broadly to the thriving protocols.

This is essentially what happened to NASA and we have been smiling ever since.

Seven years ago there were a handful of protocols sitting mostly dead in the water.  That has changed.  It has changed because simulation became effective, theoretical advances, and venture money became broadly available.

Open Letter on Fusion

October 5, 2013

Dear ,

As you might know, an open letter requesting a more broader fusion energy research funding has been posted on Lawrenceville Plasma Physics website. While fusion funding was never up to required level to ensure breakthroughs for any approach, ensuring a funding of more perspective and cost efficient fusion approaches could allow for quicker success in critical fusion research. Over twenty scientists have signed the letter. This is a strong support for LPP credibility which is preparing to launch a crowd-funding effort. If you are a researcher make sure you sign it as well!.

Here is letter text: 

We, the undersigned scientists, urge that the United States, the European Union and Japan fund a much broader fusion energy research effort, expanding the program to include a large number of promising devices and fusion fuels in order to maximize the chances of getting economical fusion power as soon as possible.

The present international fusion effort is focused almost exclusively on a single device, the tokamak, and a single version of that device, the ITER experiment. We believe that near-exclusive focus is a mistake. We do not yet know if ITER will lead to an economical fusion generator. We do not yet know which of the many fusion devices now being researched will work, which will be fastest to achieve or which will produce the most economical energy. So a focus on a single experiment is not the surest and fastest way to fusion power.

There are now many fusion devices, both other approaches to tokamaks, and entirely different devices, funded primarily by private companies, universities or other governments, that have produced very promising results. All of them are either cheaper or faster to develop than ITER, or promise more economical power generation, or both.  In addition, there are fusion fuels other than the deuterium-tritium fuel to be used in ITER. Aneutronic fuels, such as hydrogen-boron, which produce no neutrons, could potentially produce energy cheaper than any existing energy source and have other advantages in safety and materials. In some ways these fuels are more challenging, but we do not yet know if they or DT fuels are the fastest overall route to commercial generators.

The benefits of achieving practical fusion power generation are immense. Such an energy source would eliminate the threat of climate change as well as the many environmental drawbacks of other energy sources. Fusion power could ultimately save trillions of dollars in energy and environmental costs. By contrast, an increase of fusion research funding to include alternative devices and fuels would cost only an additional $300 million per year—30 cents per year per person. This is a tiny amount of money considering the benefits.

We therefore strongly urge the US Congress and the European and Japanese parliaments to immediately hold hearings on the direction of the international fusion program, looking at the wisdom of a much broader-based program. Such hearings could be the first step to legislation allocating an additional at least $300 million per year to research on alternative fusion approaches, devices and fuels.

To sign this letter, please send your name and institutional affiliation to us at lpp@lpphysics.com with a note saying you want to sign this letter (with “sign fusion petition” as the subject). When we have 100 signatures from scientists, we will seek to publish this letter prominently. If you are not a scientist and want to sign, please send us a note, too. We will have a separate list of non-scientist supporters.

Godspeed,

Ignas Galvelis

Secretary for Focus Fusion Society

 ABOUT THE FOCUS FUSION SOCIETY

 The Focus Fusion Society ("FFS") brings people together to pursue the dream of safe, clean, affordable, abundant energy from aneutronic fusion, to ensure that the ensuing technology is made available to everyone, and to foster a pro-research ethic and pro-fusion culture.