Reply To: Questions regarding DPF.

[benf]

I would answer that we’re already off to a very good start of taking on the debate and informing people with this website. From my experience, most of the people who comprised the no nukes movement in the past were not Luddites, they were mostly educated. The very same people began searching for viable alternatives to nuclear and oil turned to what science, even space science then had to offer. Solar cells and wind generators were a safe and relatively affordable way out, though on a small scale. Back in the seventies and eighties they were totally innovative. But as Eric has pointed out in his presentation to Google, that with the amount of time and resources to scale these technologies up, they won’t, as novel as they are, take us to where we need to be to deal with peak oil and the global warming threats. This was an eye opener to me and needs to be further circulated to people in a very big way. Now we have just been through eight years of an administration that was seriously anti-environment and anti-science and pro big oil. People in the environmental movement had their clocks turned back, seriously. The new administration was elected partly on a platform to move us away from that trend and they haven’t said no to nuclear power development. 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. As long as there isn’t transportation to a cave in the southwest it will probably be acceptable. Also 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.