Fusion II

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 "A woman happens upon a man on his hands and knees under a lamppost outside a tunnel. What is he doing?
Looking for his keys. Is that where he lost them? No, he lost them inside the tunnel. Why isn't he looking there? It's
dark in there; it's light under the lamppost." 

 We argue that this joke comes close to characterizing the state of progress towards fusion power. Tokamaks were
first established in 1969 and have had tremendous success since then. The ITER is a valuable culmination of this
line of research and could eventually lead to a fusion reactor, but probably not one that would be competitive with
advanced solar or the coming advancements in alternative fuels. The fuel cycle, deuterium-tritium that is being
emphasized produces most of its energy in the form of neutrons. This is responsible for the severe engineering
issues associated with the "first wall" in a tokamak approach. The "first wall" of a fusion reactor based on a
deturium-tritium fuel cycle would have every single atom displaced by collissions with neutrons each month. 

Running a holiday sale or weekly special? Definitely promote it here to get customers excited about getting a sweet deal. 

There are other candidate FUSIONFUELS  for fusion power that produce far fewer neutrons and thus do not pose
radioactivity hazards. Some of these cycles produce mainly charged particles that lend themselves to direct
conversion of the output energy to electricity. We propose combining the fusion torch concept with advanced fusion
fuel cycles that minimize neutron production, to provide the environmental resource that can help mankind live on
this planet and go to the stars.

THE FUSION TORCH II - REDUCING GLOBAL WARMING AND CLOSING
THE CYCLE FROM USE TO REUSE
 We are writing a new paper entitled "The Fusion Torch II" with William C. Gough. One recommendation of the paper will be to find a sponsor for a prize of $50 million to the person or organization that develops an engineering plan for a fusion torch device that could credibly produce power and recycle pellets of uranium oxide fuel and samples of municipal waste using fusion fuel cycles . The plan must include proof of principal equipment and testing.

CANDIDATE BETTER FUSION FUEL CYCLES
 There are other candidate fusion power fuel cycles, all of which produce fewer neutrons than the
deuterium-tritium fuel cycle. They require additional advances in fusion technology beyond the state
of the ITER device.
 

A few groups are working on such  fusion fuel cycle concepts that can use fuel cycles that minimize
the production of neutrons and thus, are ideal candidates for fusion torch applications.

BETTER FUSION FUEL CYCLES REQUIRE BETTER PHYSICS CONTROL AND
BETTER ENGINEERING
 The Lawson Criterion displayed in FUSION1969, FUSION1998, and FUSION 2007 showed a steady
increase in capability from the 1969 level of understanding to the planned ITER device. This was a
progression of over 5 orders of magnitude. (A factor of 500,000)  The available "Better" fusion fuel cycles
will require another one to two orders of magnitude improvement. It is our hypothesis that this increase is
technologically feasible and has many benefits. The energy benefit would be an energy source that
produces no significant nuclear radiation and could be inexhaustible in energy availability. We propose
that coupling these advanced fuel technologies to fusion torch recycling concepts, could simultaneously
solve mankind's materials availability problems.

FUSION TORCH OPERATION WITH BETTER FUSION FUEL CYCLES
 Ionization of solids and liquids in fusion plasmas operating with better fusion fuel cycles have not been
developed yet. We are working on this physics connection. Starting points for such research are
available. For example, if the exhaust plasma from a p-B11 cycle were used to ionize a solid, the resultant
plasma could produce electricity via an MHD cycle. We invite others to work on fusion torch applications
with these better fusion fuel cycles. Fusion fuel cycles are described in FUSIONFUEL on this site.

RESEARCH PROGRAMS ON BETTER FUSION REACTORS
 Significant research efforts are underway on fusion reactors using better fusion fuel cycles. A partial list
and description of the projects are as follows:

COLLIDING BEAM FUSION REACTOR
 The "Colliding Beam Fusion Reactor Concept" has
 been developed by Norman Rostoker, Artan
 Querushi and Michl Binderbauer in research
 programs at University of California, Irvine and at
 Tri-Alpha Energy Corporation in FootHill Ranch,
 California. Journal of Fusion Energy, Vol. 22, No.2,
 June 2003.

 The Z-pinch program at Sandia National
Laboratories has made immense progress
in developing pulsed plasmas with
immense densities and high temperatures.
These plasmas are good candidates for
better fusion fuel cycles. A photograph of
one of the devices firing is shown on the
right.