Bussard Reactor Funded?

I just received an e-mail claiming that the Navy has funded Dr. Bussard to complete his WB-7 fusion reactor experiment. In addition the e-mail claims the Navy is on board for the full up power demo if the WB-7 results are positive.

If I get further confirmation on this and permission to post it, I will. ASAP!

New Energy and Fuel has a bit more to say on the subject. I can confirm (second and third hand) all the points he makes. It is very likely that we have the same sources.


Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

Getting Tuned Up

My friend, Science Fiction Author Tom Ligon has written a short science fiction fable which he calls Inertial Electrodynamic Fusion and the Internal Combustion Engine which I thought was rather ponderous so I took the editors prerogative and called it Getting Tuned Up. There is also a news bit about a kerosene burning Wankel engine for light aircraft.

Fusion - False Alarm

It turns out California To Fund Bussard Fusion is a false alarm:

Here is Joe Strout's comment at Wed Jul 25, 2007 5:09 pm at Talk Polywell.

UPDATE: I got a call back from Bill Maile in the Governor's office. He spoke with the Governor's policy advisors, and in brief, the story is false. This is the first anyone in the Governor's office has even heard of the idea.

He is going to do some research to try and find out the source of the story. Hopefully he'll have better luck reaching somebody at nextenergynews than I have; the site lists no name or phone number, and is registered through domainsbyproxy.com. But maybe a Governor's office carries enough weight to shake loose some real contact information from them. We'll see... He promised to call me again within two hours, and when he does, I'll let you know what he found.

This is very disappointing. However it does raise the visibility of the effort and has gotten some exposure at the Governator's office. It is possible that this may have some good fall out. It is starting to reach political circles. Well, I loved the buzz while it lasted.

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

California To Fund Bussard Fusion

Wonderful News!!!! Governor Schwarzenegger of California is planning to fund Dr Bussards IEC Fusion project.

In a move sure to impress environmentalists and further cement his Earth friendly image, Governor Schwarzenegger is set to launch a multimillion dollar research effort into a revolutionary new source of clean non-polluting power.

The project is focused on the Inertial Electrostatic Fusion reactor invented by the award winning American physicist Dr. Robert W. Bussard. The Radiation Free Fusion Reactor has the potential to change the whole landscape of energy generation, which is usually a choice between bad and worse options that include Nuclear, Coal and Natural Gas systems.

The State of California peak energy usage is about 40,000 Megawatts and is only expected to grow steadily over the coming years . Fusion opens a whole new avenue of cheap clean energy that could not on

ly satisfy growing energy needs but also fuel massive water desalination plants that could help solve California’s acute water shortages.

Fusion is the energy that powers everything in the universe. The sun's energy comes from fusion. Alternatively, fission is the process whereby heavy atoms, which are nearly unstable, are split into two radioactive atoms. Fusion, on the other hand, is when two light atoms merge.

The fusion process invented by Dr. Bussard takes boron-11 and fuses a proton to it, producing, in its excited state, a carbon-12 atom. This excited carbon-12 atom decays to beryllium-8 and helium-4. Beryllium-8 very quickly (in 10-13 s) decays into two more helium-4 atoms. This is the only nuclear-energy releasing process in the whole world that releases fusion energy and three helium atoms -- and no neutrons. This reaction is completely radiation free.

It is not completely neutron free. However, the neutron production is minimal.

This is the break though in funding I have been looking for for the last nine months.

Better than sex.

Here are a couple of links explaining what the excitement is all about:
Bussard Fusion Reactor
Easy Low Cost No Radiation Fusion

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

Fusion: The Russians Are Coming

Zee News reports on a Russian scientist who wants Russia to export fusion power plants.

Tokyo, July 13: Russia is eyeing on designing thermonuclear plants for domestic and international market in the next 20 to 25 years, nuclear physicist Yevgeny Velikhov said.

He expressed confidence that Russia will be able to begin commercial production of thermonuclear reactors in 20-25 years.

"Russia's final goal is clear. We should at least get necessary knowledge to design and build thermonuclear plants for Russia's domestic purposes and for export," Velikhov said.

He believes that it is high time "to prepare Russia's science and industry to the next stage of commercial production."

"Our goal depends on ITER not by 100 percent. We should work ourselves as well. We have to prepare the new generation to this as the stage of commercial production will begin in 20-25 years as a minimum," he said.

America had better get a move on. At this point it looks like ITER will be 50 years from commercialization.

There is a shorter path. The direction taken by Tri Alpha Energy is one of those paths. The work by Dr. Robert Bussard is another.

A few of us are so convinced that this work has to go forward that we are working on an open source fusion reactor. You can find out more about it at IEC Fusion Technology blog. If you want to join in the fun you can visit or join the
IEC Fusion Newsgroup. We talk about the science, the technology, and funding the project, among other things.

We need to get a move on. The Russians are coming.

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

Love Songs For Physicists

Here are some very quarky girls you might like to know. When ever I see them my hadrons start to vibrate and my liquid nitrogen begins to boil over. They are The Cernettes.

For those of you not familiar with CERN here is a video tour of a CERN LHC project. Especially check out the description of the superconducting magnets at 4:20 into the video (15 minutes total).

Now that you know something about CERN what is so special about the Cernettes? They sing. Physics songs like:

Strong Interaction

You quark me up
You quark me down
You quark me top
You quark me bottom

You quark me up (yeah yeah, I feel your charme)
You quark me down (tau tau, I feel so strange)
You quark me top (go go on hypercharge)
You quark me bottom (shoot shoot on isospin)

You spin me 'round 'round 'round 'round yeah
You spin me 'round 'round 'round 'round yeah
You spin me 'round 'round 'round 'round yeah
You spin me 'round 'round 'round 'round yeah
I feel your attraction It's a strong interaction

You can hear them in Real Audio or Mpeg 3

The Cernettes are the official band of The Great Convincer. Which relates to the design of a Bussard Fusion Reactor for testing. Which reminds me of a song they haven't written yet. I Want to Fusion With You.

H/T Lubos Motl

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

Fusion News: Chris Wants Some Help

Chris wants some help:

American Express is having a contest to fund one idea to "make the world a better place". They have received several thousand ideas, and will pick the top 50 (in their opinion), and then let people vote to pick the best. The top idea will be funded for between $1M and $5M, depending on how many people sign up to vote.

The amount of response that each idea receives before the selection of the first 50 has some bearing on which ideas are selected.

Because of the rules of the contest, you can not ask for a specific entry to be funded, or even mention trademarkes like Polywell. So, there is a very generic entry for P-B11 fusion at:

American Express Fusion funding.

If you are so inclined, you can rate it and add comments to try to get some more attention for the idea.

If it makes it to the top, then some form of P-B11 fusion will be funded. I know it's a long shot, but at the very least, it will raise awareness.

The deadline is June 17th, so spreading the word as soon and as much as possible would be great.

Thanks,

Chris

=========

More about Bussard Fusion Reactors here:

Bussard Fusion Reactor
Easy Low Cost No Radiation Fusion
IEC Fusion Newsgroup
IEC Fusion Technology

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

Praying For Fusion

I visited the site of the world's first atomic pile CP-1 (which stands for Chicago Pile One) while I was in Chicago for my son Jonathan's graduation from the University of Chicago.

There is a Henry Moore sculpture at the site. I hugged it and climbed in it to commune with the gods of energy. I was praying for success for the Bussard Fusion Reactor.

A really neat interactive picture of the Moore sculpture was done by VictorZaveduk. The orange building in the background is the Max Palevsky Residential Commons a.k.a. dormatories, where Jon lived while he went to U Chicago.

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

Change The World In Three Minutes

Dr. Robert Bussard talks about how to change the world and it only takes three minutes.

For a deeper look at this technology:

Bussard Fusion Reactor

The video at this one is deep on physics and lasts an hour and a half, however the last 30 minutes has the implications. The three minute video is excerpted from this longer version:
Easy Low Cost No Radiation Fusion

IEC Fusion Newsgroup
IEC Fusion Technology

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Electron Circulation in Cubic Polywell

Here is the full page version which has much better resolution.

What is this all about you ask, other than some pretty pictures and nice music?

Here are some answers:

Bussard Fusion Reactor
Easy Low Cost No Radiation Fusion
Polywell - Making The Well
Nuclear Fusion - wiki

Cross Posted at Classical Values

IEC Fusion for Dummies

A short video that schematically shows how a Bussard Fusion Reactor works. The video was done by Foger Rox.

A short technical explanation can be found at Bussard Fusion Reactor. A more detailed look with social implications can be found at Easy Low Cost No Radiation Fusion.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Latest Fusion News

Tom Ligon, an engineer who worked with Dr. Robert Bussard, is giving a talk on fusion powered rockets at the International Space Development Conference in Dallas. Here is a link to Tom's Power Point Presentation at ISDC. Scroll down the page and click on the button in the lower right.

In other news Tri Alpha Energy has just raised $40 million in venture capital for nuclear fusion.

Tri Alpha Energy, which hopes to commercialize nuclear fusion technology, has raised $40 million from Venrock Associates and others, according to VentureWire.

The company, which grew out of the University of California at Irvine, says its advanced plasma fusion technologies could be used to generate electricity as well as eliminate waste from nuclear power plants. A plant based on its technology would cost less than a conventional nuclear plant. Tri Alpha was founded in 1998 and has raised funds in the past.

Tri Alpha is working on a generator in which hydrogen chases boron, according to literature from UC Irvine. These atoms then form a helium atom, which is placed in a particle accelerator. Slowing down the helium generates electricity.

I have some links to their proposed design at Easy Low Cost No Radiation Fusion. Scroll down and look for the Hendrik J. Monkhorst information.

Here are some more details on the venture capital deal from UC Irvine.

Norman Rostoker, research professor of physics and astronomy, received $5.2 million from Tri Alpha Energy Inc. to research a plasma electric generator that will use as fuel a mixture of hydrogen and boron. In this generator, hydrogen will chase boron in a cylinder, eventually resulting in helium nuclei that will be made to escape into a particle accelerator. The backwards-running accelerator will slow down the nuclei, turning the energy released into electricity.

Here is the patent for the Monkhorst/Rostoker design.

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

Arcs and Sparks

I have been doing some electronic design work over the last few days in support of amateur fusion efforts. My focus was on how to make low cost High Voltage power supplies. While I was doing that I came across the really neat picture you see here. More pictures of a similar sort can be found at Tesla Down Under.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Sign The Fusion Petition

There is a petition started on 20 Nov 2006 calling for Congress to support the Bussard Fusion Reactor.

The short version: Dr. Bussard has a Navy contract that is unfunded.

Also please write your Government to urge them to fund the Navy contract:

House of Representatives
The Senate
The President

Dr Bussard was on The Space Show last night. You can hear the audio here.

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

Fusion Image

This is a simulation of the magnetic field in the WB-6 Bussard Fusion Reactor. A picture of the WB-6 can be found here.

It was done by Indrek. He posted it to the IEC Fusion Newsgroup. His simulation is logarithmic with 32 steps. Each step is 1.433 times the size of the previous step. It represents a field range of about 65,000 to 1. You can contact him through the newsgroup.

It was calculated using a program designed by Indrek using the Biot-Savart Law.

Not that it will matter to most folks.

It is a pretty picture.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

False Report

Tom Ligon reports that the report I posted about the Bussard Fusion work being funded was incorrect.

The contract has merely been continued for a year without funding.

Time to contact your Government to see if we can't get this ball rolling.

House of Representatives
The Senate
The President

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

Good News - Fusion Project Funded

Mark of Ask Mark reports that because of Dr Bussard's winning the Outstanding Technology of the Year Award for 2006 and his widely reported Google talk the US Navy has decided to fund the final year of the his contract. (I contacted my Congress critter with no obvious result. However, maybe others had better results.)

That may be enough to get WB-7 and WB-8 funded. I hope his results from his new experiments will not be embargoed.

So far I have been unable to confirm this report. However, I have corresponded with Mark and from his e-mails he seems to be an OK guy.

Update: 19 April 2007 1200z

I found confirmation at Speculations 10 April 2007 post. There is no permalink for the post so I'm going to reproduce it here:

Greetings, future-watchers .... got some really interesting news about five minutes ago, straight from the man himself. Dr. Robert Bussard, of whom you may have heard, says that because of the publicity around his November 9th talk at Google and his International Academy of Science Outstanding Technology of the Year Award, the Navy has sent him a contract extension to continue his fusion research. It's two orders of magnitude below the $200 million Dr. Bussard says he needs to produce a full-scale 100mw system, but it's a start. If you're interested in helping out, see emc2fusion.org for more.

More details may be found in The Advent of Clean Nuclear Fusion: Superperformance Space Power and Propulsion, Dr. Bussard's contribution to the 57th International Astronautical Congress.

Come discuss this and other technology developments in The Expert Is In!

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

High School Student Builds Working Fusion Reactor

I just came across this over at the Netscape blog.

This is amazing news, a high school student name Thiago Olson managed to build a fully-functioned nuclear fusion reactor in just 2 years.

There are a number of non believers. However, the first such device of this kind was built in 1959.

Since then there have been a number of advances in the field like the one's detailed in Easy Low Cost No Radiation Fusion.

Latest Gadget has more:

...Olson's nuclear fusion reactor won't work for generating commercial power because it takes more energy to run it than to produce.

Which is true. Grid losses prevent net power gain. However, if the grids are replaced with magnets as is done in the Bussard design, net energy production looks like a very likely prospect.

Money is being raised (on a donation basis for now) to build a small prototype to repeat earlier experiments (with refinements) and to get a better definition of the reaction constants.

Using this reactor as a power source would lower the cost of alcohol distillation into the range where alcohol would be a cheaper fuel than gasoline.

This is a high risk venture. I'd guess the chances of succes are around 80% although it might be as little as 10%. In any case the cost of the experiment ($200 million for a working prototype) is about .002% of GDP. Certainly we can afford such a risk given the rewards.

Cross Posted at Classical Values