Reply To: Questions regarding DPF.

[Rezwan]

benf wrote: I would answer that we’re already off to a very good start of taking on the debate and informing people with this website.

Thanks!

Environmentalists are in a bind, clearly, and looking for alternatives again, I think. They’re still against the idea of transporting and burying long half-life spent fuel. They also don’t want plants that have the potential to melt down or discharge hot water into the rivers. Focus Fusion addresses many of these issues and while there may be a fission component to the transmutation of the elements (if this is the right way to put it) it is near enough to inconsequential to my understanding.

I think there is still a lot of progress to be made on all fronts. Bill Gates TED talk suggested that there are some interesting fission ideas on the horizon that can actually use up that spent fuel and waste, which is great!

Focus Fusion is conceptually the best idea I’ve encountered so far, but the drawback is that it is still not a proven concept. Neither is Bill Gates advanced fission concept (“Terrapower”).

“Environmentalists are in a bind, looking for alternatives” – this speaks to me of a tendency I get from some environmentalists. I’m with Gates on this. He says:

We need to go for more research funding. When countries get together in places like Copenhagen, they shouldn’t just discuss the co2, they should discuss this innovation agenda, You’d be stunned at the ridiculously low levels of spending on these innovative approaches.

Exploring alternatives requires commitment to research. This takes time, money, talent, enthusiasm in the face of an apparent lack of progress.

Environmentalists tend to have a conservative streak about this, seeing only what is on the ground at this moment. Not a lot of faith in innovation to provide. Like someone who wants to stop the car or stop the game when things appear sketchy, rather than drive on through to the other side.

Keep in mind that for the general public, the idea of a “warp drive” power plant for space travel has been totally acceptable thing to aspire to for the future! We all would like it to be safe, if possible. Global Warming Deniers still have the problems of peak oil economics to contend with and will also be wanting hi-tech solutions beyond coal mining, so maybe they can learn to put up with the environmentalists and see a brighter future.

Where focus fusion blows everyone out of the water is, indeed, the future. If you can get small, decentralized plants that run on light elements like boron and hydrogen – that takes you up to a whole different level of existence. Beyond the planet. There’s something expansive about it. Beyond surplus.

With one teeny, tiny caveat, and that is the word “if”. If you can get it to work. Flippin’ proof of concept time.