Reply To: Focus fusion and transportation

[belbear]

JimmyT wrote: Rematog,

I’m reluctantly forced to agree with you about the probability of regulation. It is interesting to note, however, that all the safety issues discussed do not involve the reactor. But rather the high voltage transmission equipment. And this equipment is present at all power facilities, be they coal powered, hydroelectric, etc.

I think regulation of FF reactors is inevitable.

Compare with aviation:
100 years ago, everyone could build and fly his own flying crate using bedsheets and broomsticks. With many deadly consequences.
Nowadays, everyone still has the right to own, fly and even build an aircraft, as long as machine, pilot and constructor comply with an ever growing list of FAA regulations.
But these regulations still permit private aviation, for fun or profit. Despite it’s not as cheap as it could be without regulation, at least it’s safe.

As long as regulation is for safety purposes, there should be no objection against it.
The goal must be to insure that any privately owned fusion equipment does not pose any electrical, radiation or chemical hazard to its operators and the general public, and to insure that only qualified people build, operate and maintain it.
After all, A FF generator IS a dangerous piece of equipment, operating with ten thousands of volts, lethal radiation and poisonous substances like decaborane.
So a regular inspection by some sort of organisation (DOE or others) to insure that everything is safe and sound may be desirable, just like with airplanes.

In other words, I would not mind a FF plant next door, but then I want to be confident that their 40000 volts do not come jumping out of my power sockets because the greedy owner cuts back on maintenance.

What should not happen is a very restrictive regulation, like with nuclear fission (for THAT there is a good reason), that prohibits private persons and small companies from owning and operating a focus fusion reactor unless they comply with regulations made to the measure of big power companies like the ones that now operate fission plants.
These big companies WILL oppose focus fusion, if only because their expensive investments in current power sources are at risk.

The media also plays an important role in the early days of commercial FF power. If they happen to scare the general public with horrific comparisons a la Chernobyl or Harrisburg, out of pure ignorance and sensationalism, the government may feel the need to respond.

Okay, I’m a European, so I may incline somewhat more toward the need for government regulation than the average American does.
And we all know what happened to Wall Street and the banks because of “deregulation”