Fusion and the LHC (Large Hadron Collider)

[Dinu Popa]

Located near Geneva, close to the border between Switzerland and France, the Large Hadron Collider is the largest particle accelerator in the world at a cost of about 9 billion dollars.

It is strange how we love to put all of our eggs in one basket. At the same time 9 billion was spent on the LHC, Dr Bussard could not find a few million for his fusion reactor. Don't get me wrong, the Physicists working at CERN are some of the best in the world and the reason I'm mentioning them is the analogy between the LHC and the TOKAMAK approach to fusion.

We've been promised fusion since the 50' and there is very little to show in terms of practical achievements. But we made the decision that the TOKAMAK is the way to go. How can we tell if the TOKAMAK path is the right one before it works? And what is a few millions more if it means following two avenues to fusion?

Dr Bussard talks at Google, Novemeber 9-th, 2006, see video. This presentation can be understood by anyone that has completed the Physics sequence in an engineering program or the equivalent.

Copyright © Constantin Popa 2008 All rights reserved