Amateur “Fusors” Building Fusion Reactors
August 18, 2008 by admin · View Comments
I have been following the amateur “Fusor” movement with great interest. Fusors are a small (but growing) handful of hobbyists who are successfully building fusion reactors in their homes. They aren’t powering their neighborhoods just yet, but it’s entirely possible that the next Steve Wozniak might be a Fusor who changes the world’s energy source from the confines of their garage.
The following video from the Wall Street Journal interviews one aspiring hobbyist and his very understanding wife:
Fusion is Mother Nature’s energy source of choice (the Sun and every star in the Universe are giant fusion reactors) and, depending on the fuel, has no residual radioactivity after the reaction is shut down. Some fusion reactions can even generate electricity directly, without the need to boil water or spin turbines.
The United States is contributing a token amount to the International ITER project, which is the first large scale fusion power generator. The experimental reactor will generate 500 MW of electricity, with the hope that it will generate a net energy output of 10 times the input needed to start the reaction.
While it’s good that the United States is participating in the project, we’re simply not doing enough. Other nations are investing considerably more in their own fusion projects (China especially) and we are at great risk of getting caught behind in the race for cleaner, more sustainable energy.
It’s time we as Americans make a sizable investment in this technology.
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