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Adrian
11-24-2006, 06:33 PM
Nuclear fusion research has got a boost:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1953405,00.html

Officials from six nations and the European Union today signed an international treaty launching a £7bn nuclear fusion energy research project aimed at developing an emission-free energy source.

Nuclear fusion has the potential to make large amounts of energy available without creating significant amounts of pollution or waste products. On the face of it this seems like a move in the right direction that addresses concerns about global warming without reducing the amount of energy available to our high consumption societies but not everyone agrees:

However, environmental activists generally oppose nuclear power, and have argued that the project would distract attention from existing efforts to fight global warming.

From what I know about nuclear fusion it is a very worthwhile long term objective and I would applaud this latest research project but I agree that we cannot afford to delay our action on global warming whilst we wait for the results. I do not see this as an either/or issue but feel that we should be researching nuclear fusion whilst developing other clean technologies as well. How realistic is a nuclear fusion power station and will nuclear fusion research have adverse effects on developing other clean eneregy sources?

Tufelhunden
11-27-2006, 03:41 AM
By the way, a seventeen year old just achieved nuclear fission in his parents basement earlier this year. This was accomplished by: A metallic cylinder (under negative pressure/vaccum) injected with ditrium gas (form of hydrogen) then with about forty thousand volts of electricity applied to it (source was an old mammogram machine). The result was a small concentrated, massive amount of light energy and heat, now verified as fission.

This is rumored to be some average 17 year old high school kid with a 3.75 GPA who does not fit the MO of someone capable of this.