FAQ - Fusion efforts, construction big and small - an overview

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Richard Hull
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FAQ - Fusion efforts, construction big and small - an overview

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It is important to discuss fusion efforts across the board. In the FAQ I will outline the general types of fusion efforts from professional to the bottom tier amateur.

The monster fusion programs

In the work of super fusion efforts in the over 100 million dollar plus range, the building is always first and takes years and many millions right up front! Then they pack it with staff and technical people, artists, press relations staffers, etc. The very last thing they do is actually apply remaining monies to the device that was funded 2-6 years ago! It is always the case that, by this time, they are over budget and need more of the folding money to complete the project. (JET, NIF, ITER, and many others through the years). Gotta' get a comfy nest with networked buddy staff and hangers-on installed before any real doing takes place. Naturally, glowing press releases all along the way.

While so much waste is often seen here, it is the way of the world in such undertakings. In many cases, such efforts are often political in nature as well as scientific. Failure is often accepted with the, ever expected, clarion call for an even bigger project to use what they have learned from such failures to finally, it is hoped and planned, will be, "The win we wanted from the start".

Medium, and often, private, industrial or corporate based fusion efforts

Lesser professional and semi-professional efforts in the under $50 million range, usually rent a large abandoned warehouse or have a giant, rather inexpensive, steel building constructed. They have maybe one or two professional drivers, but a good sized technical and engineering staff on hand and pour the left overs into the device. From full funding to work on the construction of the device might take only 3 months to a year at most. Any offices in the edifice are crudely constructed inside the giant warehouse as connected "slap-ups" as needed during the actual work. Nothing lavish here. A good scientific effort pointed at possible future profits and patents for the supporting company.

Such efforts can often be far more effective over a shorter span of time with less foot dragging and of well defined, pointed and directed goals.

The well funded private or small group fusion research effort

For the most assiduous and well funded or self-funded efforts, the building is quite small and often located on the property owned by the progenitor/researcher and often, builder! This can be a professional either working or retired in comfort or a very well-heeled amateur. The range of expenditure rarely exceeds $100,000 dollars over the life of the effort unless more outside funding is brought to bear. The building is often either contracted to a builder friend or, if very modest, self built. Construction can be as low as $1,000 if totally built by the hands of the experimenter/ researcher or $25,000 for a very nice contracted steel building. The building, while never cheap, is but a trifle and a necessary annoyance on the way to a much more significant goal in the mind of the researcher.

Many such low end operations are undertaken by a researcher who already has much needed equipment in hand and what additional gear he may need are well within his budgetary reach or ability to self make from scratch. Such a person is always very diverse and of some age and experience with useful skill sets. If such a person lacks many tools or skill sets, the cost, out of pocket, will be far more devastating to his purse due to the need to contract so much needed work to professionals outside of his effort. Often, an unpaid assistant or friends with needed skills are brought into the effort.

The typical amateur effort

Such efforts, to be successful, will require money with a good skill set, but almost never has, at its core, any form of advanced research planned. This is more of an advanced effort for the amateur scientist who will go to almost any lengths to do fusion. The lab is often a bedroom, an apartment or, at best, a garage or shed. There is rarely more than $20,000 spent to do this, even with a custom built small lab for the effort. Many will never spend more than $3,000 to succeed. Older, professional amateurs with advanced skill sets and superb tools and the ability to use them, coupled with pre-existing kit can succeed for about $1,000.

This last class is where most all here reside in the fusion effort. No fusion goal beyond doing fusion or at best, testing different forms of amateur fusion assemblies. This is a form of research.

When will real, net power, reasonable cost, electrical generating fusion be made a reality, awaits a future century. It will not come in this century, if ever. So much depends on worldwide political and economic stability. Look at the world today with the damage a simple pandemic has done to the world population, economies, and politics. People want electrical energy cheap and now! Political entities know this and will do what it takes, only in the short term, to see that this remains true. If it takes coal or oil or fission or the limited capabilities of renewables, that is what they will put the money into.

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
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