Fusion: Science, Politics, and the Invention of a New Energy SourceFor more than thirty years, the prospect of unlimited fusion energy has attracted scientists and the public. Joan Lisa Bromberg's book documents the history of the American magnetic fusion reactor program. It is also a lively account that will inform interested citizens of limited technical background who are concerned with the nation's energy strategy. The book carries the story from the program's inception under the auspices of the Atomic Energy Commission in 1951 to its operations under the then-new Department of Energy in 1978. Fusion concentrates on the four federally funded laboratories where most of the money has been spent (about $2 billion so far): Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore, and Princeton. It recounts the crucial experiments along the way - the ones that succeeded, the ones that failed, the ones that showed promise. And it explains and diagrams the various magnetic configurations and devices that were developed and tested: the stellarator, the pinch, the mirror, the tokamak. With the government and the public constantly looking over the scientists' shoulders, it is no surprise that research directions were heavily influenced by extrascientific pressures: the major decisions in fusion research have always emerged from a medley of technical, institutional, and political considerations. The intermingling of science and politics is demonstrated in specific detail. The magnetic fusion reactor project is, of course, ongoing. Latest target date for producing commercial power: 2050. Estimated total cost: $15 billion. Dr. Bromberg has written extensively on topics in the history of modern science. |
Contents
The Problem of Instability | 50 |
A Sherwood Spectacular | 66 |
Watershed | 89 |
The Mirror Confronts Instability | 106 |
The Doldrums | 130 |
9 | 151 |
Fusion Enters the Energy Marketplace | 175 |
11 | 198 |
Other editions - View all
Fusion: Science, Politics, and the Invention of a New Energy Source Joan Lisa Bromberg No preview available - 1985 |
Common terms and phrases
Alamos American Astron Atomic Energy Author's interview beams Bishop Bohm diffusion budget Coensgen coils commission commissioners Committee minutes conference confinement controlled fusion controlled thermonuclear research declassification density deuterium device director Division of Research DOE-HO DOE-OMFE Edward Teller Electric electrons engineering experimental experiments feasibility fiscal fission Furth fusion community fusion energy fusion power fusion program fusion reactor fusion research fusion scientists Geneva heating Hirsch instability ions Johnson laboratory leaders Livermore Los Alamos Lyman Spitzer magnetic field magnetic fusion Magnetic Fusion Energy Matterhorn McDaniel meeting million degrees centigrade mirror machine Model neutrons nuclear Nuclear Fusion Oak Ridge office files Ormak particles physicist pinch Plasma Physics Postma Princeton problems Project Sherwood R. F. Post Review Ribe Rosenbluth Ruark scientific Scyllac Sherwood Conf Soviet stability Standing Committee Steering Committee stellarator Strauss Teller temperature TFTR theoretical theory Thermonuclear Reactions tokamak toroidal torus tritium Tuck ZETA
References to this book
Wissenschaft für Macht und Markt: Kernforschung und Mikroelektronik in der ... Michael Eckert,Maria Osietzki No preview available - 1989 |
Engines of Innovation: U.S. Industrial Research at the End of an Era Richard S. Rosenbloom,William J. Spencer No preview available - 1996 |