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Nuclear fusion: US Congress ponders on this as wasteful boondoggle

Nuclear war on the Hill Fusion research splits the House and Senate. Why? Because, er… science. Politico.com , 12 June 15  By BOER DENG On a patch of land in Saint-Paul-les-Durance, in the South of France, cranes recently installed two massive electrical fixtures, industrial gray and 87 tons each — the first components of a plant that will house the world’s biggest scientific project.

If it succeeds, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, will turn hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, into virtually limitless clean energy. But success is far from assured, getting results will take years, and construction is behind schedule.

Now Congress has split on whether to continue supporting the enterprise at all. ……..Ambitious science projects frequently crash into funding rocks, and nuclear fusion is a particularly vexing problem for politicians. More than four decades have been spent trying to turn the reaction that fuels stars and H-bombs into a viable source of energy. Is it worth shelling out ever more on a very risky bet with a big potentialpayoff — a step towards securing the world’s, not to mention the country’s, energy future? Or is it yet another boondoggle science project recklessly spending taxpayer money?….

like many “big science” projects, it has a record of overrunning its cost estimates. ……

Plenty of physicists are skeptical of ITER, … “I was on the site and it’s appalling how little work has been done,” says Michael Lubell of the American Physical Society. Some researchers have derided the Department of Energy’s most recent fusion strategy, which includes ITER, or have written to Congress to plead for pulling out of the experiment. The technology the reactor will use is too costly to be viable, they say, and the money would be better put toward research on alternative designs…..http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2015/06/nuclear-war-on-the-hill-000083

June 13, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | technology, USA