 |
| USA might not be leading in fusion technology, but the work on the Alcator C-MOD tokamak is a vital part of the effort to make fusion power a reality |
As is often said, (at least by me), "Global trade in peanuts amounts to $30 billion per annum. Fusion doesn't cost peanuts - it costs MUCH less!"
One of my colleagues tried to write an open letter to US Director of the Office of Science, Dr. William F. Brinkman
(at this link)
I write to you today as an active participant in the world-wide fusion community. The proposed cuts to the U.S. domestic fusion program in the Fiscal Year 2013 Presidential Budget Request seem to me to show a disappointing lack of confidence in the one and only technology that is likely to provide a reliable and substantial source of power in the future, long after fossil fuels have become too rare and expensive to burn.
You may not realise that the countries in the Far East have been advancing much more rapidly in their implementation of fusion engineering technology than the countries that have traditionally led the field. You only have to look at the tables on the web site http://www.tokamak.info to see how many significant new machines have been built in the last decade. None of them have been funded by USA, Europe or Russia and it would be irresponsibly optimistic to assume that the intellectual property developed with them will be in the public domain.
I strongly urge you to provide sufficient funding for a strong domestic fusion research program in addition to the American contribution to ITER. Thank you.
*******************
If you care about the future of our planet and want to support the idea that we should all contribute towards it, you can follow this link too. If, like me you spend the time writing a letter and then get this message,
you will probably agree with me that open government is not what it claims to be!
As for me - I'll keep trying! The future of the world is quite important to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment