NEW FUSION PLAN IN WASHINGTON D.C.
Courtesy of Dr. Samuel P. Faile
Andrew Lawler (Staff writer), "Fusion Plan Gathers Steam," Science, 22 Mar. 1996, Vol. 271, No. 5256, pg 1660.
EDITOR'S SUMMARY
"Stunned by a massive cut in the U.S. fusion budget," the academicians and workers in the hot-fusion community have joined in a massive public relations campaign to salvage the U.S.'s continuing role in the development of hot fusion. The new direction, that has met with inter-university agreement, is to set aside five percent of the budget for basic research in a shift from large-scale to small- and medium- scale experiments. Under this new direction, the group is lobbying for a minimum of $250 million for 1997 (just $6 million more than 1996 budget). This amount would "sustain the domestic program, step up the search for alternative technologies, and maintain a foothold in the planned International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor."
"Forty years and $14 billion!" was the comment by Representative Dana Rohrabacher (Republican from California), a member of the House Science Committee and chair of the Energy and Environment Panel. He also complained, "If we keep shoveling money out of the back of the truck, nobody is going to get more efficient."
EDITOR'S COMMENT
For about ten years, there has been very little money spent by DOE on alternative energy sources. There is enormous government literature on solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and tidal projects, with no studies that demonstrate cost effectiveness of any of these alternative energy sources. This newsletter humbly suggests that for $10 million spent on a combination of cold fusion, solid-state systems, and super motors, we can demonstrate that a viable alternative energy industry can be commercialized! More important, the community of caring professional scientists, inventors, and business managers will do the job without the government's help!