Reply To: T-shirt designers unite and take over

[Brian H]

June 29 interview of Eric at NextBigFuture: http://nextbigfuture.com/2009/06/interview-of-eric-lerner-lawrenceville.html . Good stuff.

Question: You have divided your fusion development projects into stages. What are these stages, and are you meeting the timetables?

Answer: There are three basic stages. We are currently trying to determine the scientific feasibility of our approach. This involves constructing a laboratory device that generates net energy and unequivocally proves viability. This phase has just begun and should be completed within the next two years. The second stage would result in a working prototype, and that will be a much larger project, involving about $20 million and taking about 3 years. The final stage would be implementation – getting our fusion technology out to the economy.

Question: How long do you anticipate between a successful prototype demonstration and commercial production?

Answer: We anticipate having a commercial reactor no more than eighteen months after the prototype is completed. So eighteen months after the prototype there should be significant numbers of reactors being manufactured. If this technology can generate electricity for 1/10 the cost of current approaches, as we believe, then it will quickly supplant them. We could eventually see a million of these units being produced per year.