[rescue] Energy

[James Lockwood]

On Wed, 8 May 2002 dave at cca.org wrote:

> If you look at the Big Picture, fission is a horrible, messy, ugly
> hack used briefly by civilizations before they figure out fusion.

I thought this was reality, not SF?

"Clean" hot fusion (meaning hazardous-waste-free) is unlikely to be
possible.  The hypothetical hot fusion reactors of the future will be
marvelous neutron generators that will create many disposal problems in
their own right.

> I think we should just wait for fusion. (Well, not passively. :-)
> We should be funding the hell out of it right now.)

We have been for several decades.  Unfortunately, there is no requirement
in physics that sub-stellar scale controlled fusion be practical.  Every
problem that has been solved on the path towards fusion has shown that
additional issues exist.

At this point I consider orbital solar concentrators to be a better
possibility.  The engineering needed is far better understood.

-James [and, however convoluted, it brings the topic back to the Sun]