Word: fusion
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...open-ended tube surrounded by magnets. Extra-powerful magnetic fields at the ends of the tube act as "mirrors," reflecting particles toward the center of the device and reducing leakage. But none of these or other exotic magnetic devices have yet simultaneously produced all three conditions necessary for controlled fusion...
Most scientists concede that this honor could well be won by the giant Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) now under construction at Princeton. The TFTR is scheduled to begin operation in 1981 and is expected to prove the scientific feasibility of fusion...
...tritium, compressing and heating the mixture. If the impinging beams are energetic enough, the effect will be so great that the nuclei will fuse, releasing energy like a miniature H-bomb. Among others, researchers at Los Alamos (N. Mex.) Scientific Laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore lab have achieved fusion in laser experiments with the pellets. More impressive reactions may occur in late 1977, when scientists at Lawrence Livermore complete work on the $25 million Shiva, the world's largest and most powerful laser. On the other hand, experts at Sandia Laboratories in Albuquerque are pinning their hopes for achieving...
...progress continues at the present rate, the Energy Research and Development Administration-which supplies most of the half-billion dollars now being spent annually for U.S. fusion research-predicts that by the late '70s or early '80s researchers in the U.S., U.S.S.R. and Japan could achieve "break even," or the point at which a machine produces as much power as it uses. Then researchers can concentrate on attaining ignition conditions: the time-temperature-density combinations at which the fusion reaction sustains itself. "By 1985," dreams Ronald Parker of M.I.T.'s Alcator fusion program, "we will have...
...Some experts feel that even after break-even, the engineering of practical power plants will be difficult and their construction expensive. Admits Lawrence Livermore Physicist John Emmett: "No one is saying it will be cheap." Still, given the seriousness of the energy crisis, that is no reason to sidetrack fusion research in favor of programs promising quicker payoffs. "Shortrange solutions last a short time," warns Princeton Physicist Melvin Gottlieb. "Longterm solutions take decades to achieve...