An artist’s conception of a 1,000 megawatt mirror machine fusion reactor with a direct energy converter, as it appeared on the cover of the Bulletin in October, 1971. Image courtesy of R.F. Post
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Keywords: Nuclear Fusion Energy, deuterium, electricity, energy, power, reactor
Topics: Nuclear Energy
Richard F. Post
Richard F. Post (1918-2015) was a physicist and the head of the magnetic mirror program in controlled thermonuclear research at what was then the... Read More
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
Post’s 1971 “fusion power timetable” is Fig. 10 in his article, with the caption “The timetable for fusion energy to go .…. to an everyday commercial reality.”
Just increment the time axis by 50 years, and the timetable would be applicable today, 53 years later.
In other words, there’s been a slippage of about one year per year in reaching predicted milestones.
That’s why it always seems that “fusion power is 30 years away.”
There’s no realistic evidence of any convergence.