Low-Cost Fusion Project Steps Out of the Shadows and Looks for Money - By Alan Boyle
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/low-cost-fusion-project-steps-out-shadows-looks-money-n130661
Low-Cost Fusion Project Steps Out of the Shadows and Looks for Money
By Alan Boyle
June 13th 2014
A hush-hush nuclear fusion project that's received $12 million from the U.S. Navy is now sharing what it calls encouraging results and looking for private investment.
For years, EMC2 Fusion Development Corp. has had to conduct its research into what's known as Polywell fusion outside public view because the Navy wanted it that way. Now the Navy is phasing out its funding, and EMC2 Fusion is planning a three-year, $30 million commercial research program to see if its unorthodox approach can provide a fast track to cheap nuclear fusion power.
"The goal is, we want to get a set of concrete data that will allow us to make a decision if, when and how we can build a fusion device," EMC2 Fusion's president and chief scientist, Jaeyoung Park, told NBC News. "Obviously 'if' is a big part of it, but we believe the 'if' part looks promising. ... We might have a very pleasant surprise. Fusion might not be 30 years from now, but maybe 10 years, or maybe around the corner."
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"This finding ... is just one step along the way," said M. Simon, a frequent contributor to the Talk-Polywell online discussion forum. "It makes the case that further experiments are warranted. In other words, no showstoppers."
Nicholas Krall, a plasma physicist who has been working in the fusion field for more than a half-century and has been an adviser to EMC2 Fusion, was more enthusiastic. "I think this is the most exciting experimental advance that I've been involved in," he told NBC News. 'I'm stoked."
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