Robert Bussard on IEC Fusion Power & The Polywell Reactor
Fusion power has remained an elusive dream for over half a century, but a practical solution may finally be at hand. We’re joined by Dr. Robert Bussard, former assistant director at the Atomic Energy Commission and the founder of EMC2 Fusion Development Corp, to talk about Polywell — a new type of IEC fusion reactor that he believes will finally deliver cheap, clean fusion energy.
Robert, let’s start out with the current state of fusion research. I think most people are aware that fusion research is a collection of big dollar research projects and government & academia, but I’m not sure how much anybody knows about the progress being made in this field. Can you describe for us the current state of fusion research in the United States and how much money this progress is costing us?
Tim, that’s a very complicated topic because controlled fusion research goes back to 1952. Lyman Spitzer at Princeton university invented a machine he called the Stellarator to try and make controlled fusion happen, and from that point on until 1956 it was a classified program.
