Potential Energy Breakthrough: Alternative Approach to Fusion Energy

This story has been covered on ATS previously largely as a result of Dr. Brussard's presentation at Google. A recent article about Dr. Brussard's work prompted me to re-post what I believe is a very important issue. You can find an earlier ATS thread here.

The recent article is here.

The 90min Google video is here.

The Google video is quite technical. However, if you can hang in there you'll come to understand how truly important this gentleman's work is. Dr. Brussard is no basement inventor. He has spent his life working under governmnet, DOD and US Navy contracts. Most recently he and his team have spent 12yrs researching and developing an alternative approach to fusion. His system produces no radioactive waste and is a fraction of the size (and cost) of the DOD's favored approach (which produces radioactive tritium as a byproduct --- used in nuclear weapons). Dr. Brussard has worked out all of the physics for his system, has built and successfully tested several smaller scale prototypes and only needs to develop the engineering to bring this technology to market. He believes it would take only 5-6yrs to make his system commercially available. The only thing he needs is private sector funding and engineering talent.

This is potentially the real deal. I urge ATSers to watch the video and learn about this man and his work.

Interesting, and not quite as flaky as I'd thought when I read the original article. Googling him turns up more detail, and he does have a respectable number of papers, too. So he's the real deal.

He did get funding for 2007 from the Navy, but this is another area where funding was cut by the administration.

A good story to follow... the main problem being that the American people are reluctatnt to accept any sort of nuclear power as a rule. But he might be able to sell it to other countries such as France or South Korea or Japan.

Watch the video Byrd. And muster all your patience when you do. I promise it will be worth it. He talks about the late funding he got from the Navy. It would seem $200M is chump change for a technology like this and it would be a shame if another country develops it first.

God, I hate the internet sometimes and I hate being stuck with dial up. I can't stand this remote streaming stuff popping up all over every new "hip" site along side utube and google. It's like everybody assumes we're all on broadband. Why don't these people just upload the vids in avi/mpg so folks can download vids with a download manager AND browse the net without crashing IE from the load...y'know kinda like before all this #.

I do believe that this man has a good product on his hands. The problem with this alternative, relatively inexpensive power is going to be limited to create a false sense of demand skewing the market for a large profit over the short and the long run. As it stands at the moment, EXXON has openly admitted that they will not create any more refineries or increase production due to increasing profits, thus setting a false sense of supply and creating a huge demand. This is wrong according to the US constitution and will not be prosecuted due to the fact that 45% of the cost of gasoline in America is taxes. Since this is a percentage, and Americans need gasoline, the higher the price the more the government makes, and since it's a necessity, it has to be purchased. The point I am trying to make is that the US government will have a hard time trying to meter this alternative energy source without having it subsidised and overpriced. Poor America, ruled by corporations.

I watched this yesterday, and yeh i think this guy is the real deal.

What resonated with me the most was when he talked about the way science works today..how it is no longer a field of exploration, but merely a business. If you don't fit the model thats already existing, you can forget that grant money.

The Tokamak; I always suspected this thing was never ever going to go anywhere. It is merely a waste of money and attention, when these things could be put on better projects.

AlphaAnu... not necessarily disagreeing with your jaded and somewhat cynical bent on the status quo, did you actually watch the video? If you did you'd have learned that the good Dr. is trying to specifically avoid the scenario you painted.

I know this story, but I still say that the Water H2O revolution is yet to take place.
Check my thread on Water Cars.
There are many great new branches of science and physics with alternative energy but the NWO controls the sale of energy.

and also the manufacture and disturbution of energy.
Your not gonna get that from them

Originally posted by jtma508
Watch the video Byrd. And muster all your patience when you do. I promise it will be worth it. He talks about the late funding he got from the Navy. It would seem $200M is chump change for a technology like this and it would be a shame if another country develops it first.

why dont we petition 10 millionaires/billionaires....to invest in this?

at $20 million each they wont be so scared....


or even 20 billionaires at $10 million each..


why have we/he not approched that quantum venture capital people who give grants.

people like bill gates...

is he even aware of this...?

he will not have time to browse the net etc..

so why dont we contact him using the 6 degrees of separation theory? to contact him...

That's a very good idea esecallum. Now all we need are mailing addresses(for mailing the DVD of this video to various people) as well as EMail addresses. I would try to actually get ahold of some of the names of head researchers as well, because their word would weigh more then just some random solicitation.


www.science.edu...


Man, looks like something out of Star Trek doesn't it?

[edit on 9-5-2007 by sardion2000]

[edit on 9-5-2007 by sardion2000]

@#$!! Is that the full size of the thing? Any radioactive leaks or anything? With something that small, if it were safe, it could quickly become a major power source.

But on the other hand, I wonder how much it would cost us to head to the local 'stone-station' and buy a new load of 'fuel'?? I'm sure it's not gunna be cheap.

@#$!! Is that the full size of the thing?

No. This is I believe.



Compared to Tokamaks, it's tiny I'll say that.

Any radioactive leaks or anything?

www.science.edu...

The fusion process recommended by Dr. Bussard takes boron-11 and fuses a proton to it, producing, in its excited state, a carbon-12 atom. This excited carbon-12 atom decays to beryllium-8 and helium-4. Beryllium-8 very quickly (in 10-13 s) decays into two more helium-4 atoms. This is the only nuclear-energy releasing process in the whole world that releases fusion energy and three helium atoms -- and no neutrons. This reaction is completely radiation free.

With something that small, if it were safe, it could quickly become a major power source.

Fusion is very safe due to it's inherent instability. It sounds weird, but the primary reason why Fission can cause so many problems is that the reaction cannot be shut down at the flick of a switch so to speak. With Fusion if there is any instability and leakage of plasma, or any interruption in the fuel gas supply and the reaction will grind to a halt, rather then melting down.

But on the other hand, I wonder how much it would cost us to head to the local 'stone-station' and buy a new load of 'fuel'?? I'm sure it's not gunna be cheap.

Boron-11 will be cheaper then fuel for a Fission plant, that's for sure! Safer to transport and not a security threat.

[edit on 10-5-2007 by sardion2000]

ok that's a bit bigger... errr... so much for my thoughts of it powering cars at that (first pic) size... hence the comment about the fuel~

[edit on 10-5-2007 by esecallum]

Originally posted by sardion2000
That's a very good idea esecallum. Now all we need are mailing addresses(for mailing the DVD of this video to various people) as well as EMail addresses. I would try to actually get ahold of some of the names of head researchers as well, because their word would weigh more then just some random solicitation.

yes we need to act.
you must realize most of the people in power are confined by conservative people who are quite old and prevent new ideas reaching their paymasters.

most millionaires/billionaires will have a coterie of so-called advisers who tend to insulate them from the world.

therefore these people tend to be quite isolated...

$200 million is a drop in the ocean considering how much money is being wasted...

just 1 example:-

i understand the osprey vertical tilt rotor aircraft has had $35 BILLION wasted on it and its killed 35 people already in test flights.

what is required is to make a presentation to these people with the money and some kind of mass effort to get a working fusion prototype built.

no substitute for a working prototype.

some universitys could be involved too....

alternatively a company could be set up and shares issued to raise working capital...


i am amazed these things have not been done already...

perhaps we should contact dr bussard to get him involved in these ideas..


i urge all people who read this to start somehing to publicise this and to get a proper dvd made to distribute to head researchers and to lobby various RELAVENT people

or even put a billboard up asking why this is not being funded.


why not glamorise it for example or do some kind of publicity stunt?

i understand in the uk single divorced fathers who did not get custody/access to their kids got massive worldwide publicity when one of them dressed up in a batman suit and climbed a building in Buckingham Palac in London..the queens residence.

he just stood there was a few hours without harming anyone...


the resulting publicity was vast as the worlds media converged to Buckingham Palace

i can assure you conventional tokamak hot fusion will never work and the reason is very similar to why you cannot balance a pencil on it's point no matter how hard and how long you try.


what do you think?

No one has ever built a full-scale prototype of this system. In the video Dr. Bussard states how large it would be. I can't recall but it isn't very large. It's very, very much smaller than the Tokamak system. There is NO radiation to leak in this system. That's one of its major pluses. The preferred fuel is Boron-11. The beauty of this is that B11 is plentiful everywhere so no one could corner the market. And has been pointed out, it is safe to handle.

There are other promising technologies out there but this one has the credibility of a respected, known scientist behind it; 12yrs of meticulously compiled documentation; functioning prototype trials; and a fully vetted physics model behind it. Nothing hocus-pocus here.

We need to figure out a way to get this mainstream and bring it directly to the people with money. Gates, Branson, Warren Buffet... Could a company be started with a public offering of stock to raise the money? I have a contact at a large venture capital company and will contact them. How do we get this started?


[edit on 10-5-2007 by jtma508]

Bussard said that he thinks something like a 6 meter diameter version would produce enough to run a sub. You couldn't put it in a car but you could make a neighborhood sized power plant.

The other thing is that the B11 reaction produces electricity directly in the form of high-energy alpha particles. You don't need turbines and generators. You get really high voltage low current power, which can be down-converted to line AC. The thing is so efficient at putting out power that you get something like 90% of the total reaction output as electricity. You don't even need cooling towers.

Naval Weapons was running this as a classified project for several years. It was being targeted to go into nuclear subs as a power plant. No pumps, no turbines, no generator, very limited cooling flow, no radiation, no shielding, the fuel would fit into a closet and isn't poisonous. It doesn't get much better than that.

Originally posted by jtma508
No one has ever built a full-scale prototype of this system. In the video Dr. Bussard states how large it would be. I can't recall but it isn't very large. It's very, very much smaller than the Tokamak system. There is NO radiation to leak in this system. That's one of its major pluses. The preferred fuel is Boron-11. The beauty of this is that B11 is plentiful everywhere so no one could corner the market. And has been pointed out, it is safe to handle.

There are other promising technologies out there but this one has the credibility of a respected, known scientist behind it; 12yrs of meticulously compiled documentation; functioning prototype trials; and a fully vetted physics model behind it. Nothing hocus-pocus here.

We need to figure out a way to get this mainstream and bring it directly to the people with money. Gates, Branson, Warren Buffet... Could a company be started with a public offering of stock to raise the money? I have a contact at a large venture capital company and will contact them. How do we get this started?


[edit on 10-5-2007 by jtma508]

yes...a public offering of stock would be the best way to get it started and it should not be too difficult once dr bussard is brought on board to oversee the actual construction.

a website could be set up to provide a daily update on progress later but would initially be asking for investors to fund the project.

the benefits of this method of fusion seem to considerable as explained in the video.

the video should be spread to various university's involved in nuclear energy production to get more interest.

people with nuclear qualifications should be brought onboard.


the media should be involved and hence the need for some kind of publicity stunt.

also good sales/marketing people with connections to sell the idea to investors.

esecallum... I've been told that it takes a long time to get a public offering to happen. A particular hurdle for Dr. Bussard is how doe you value the offering? Essentially all he has is physics. I'm 100% for pushing this. As has been mentioned earlier, there are tons of people out there with the money and politics to make this go. Richard Branson is my personal #1 pick. Anyone have his email?

Time to bump this thread... Does anyone outh there have an idea on how to get this in front of people who could financially make it happen?