Talk-Polywell.org

In Physics Today there is an article "Livermore ends LIFE" by David Kramer:

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has quietly shelved a program that was developing a design for a plant that generates electricity from laser fusion. The Laser Inertial Fusion Energy (LIFE) program was meant to provide a practical application of fusion energy following the attainment of ignition at the lab’s National Ignition Facility (NIF).

“The focus of our inertial confinement fusion efforts is on understanding ignition on NIF rather than on the LIFE
concept,” LLNL acting director Bret Knapp said in a statement. “Until more progress is made on ignition we will direct our efforts on resolving the remaining fundamental scientific challenges to achieving fusion ignition.”

http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/ma ... /PT.3.2344

I had more hope for z pinch anyway

Why is this not front page news!

A program the tax payers spent MILLIONS and YEARS on HAS ENDED!

People did their PhD Thesis on LIFE, Guys spent 5 to 8 years working on this concept.

There was a HUGE Apparatus of DOE officials, Employees, University professors, Editors, Grad Students and Politicians pushing this!

Billions were spent on it!

Congress was sold on it!

Taxpayer money WASTED!

The question is WHY. What allowed this program to continue long after people knew it would fail?

WHY should ITER be ANY DIFFERENT!

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I can tell you this will have huge implications for mainstream fusion funding programs. So many of the publications, researchers, investigators, and folks on US payrolls have built their labs, careers, and scientific credentials on LIFE. This include massive labs with staffs in the thousands at NIF, Omega, HiPer, LMJ, and Gecko. They will be thinking about new research topics, or leaving the fusion world entirely. Plenty of grad students housed and trained in those programs will be looking elsewhere. The ending of LIFE, may be quiet; it may not make headlines - but it is a major seismic shift in the world of fusion.

mattman wrote:Why is this not front page news!
Taxpayer money WASTED!

The question is WHY. What allowed this program to continue long after people knew it would fail?

"To a willing person, injury is not done". So it's not wasted. But it is convenient to pin the blame on one or a clique of politicians. Rather than a public culture of indifference and complacency.