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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;color:#1F497D'>I have a story to tell. I was at the University of Michigan when I met Kip Siegal before he founded KMS Fusion. Then later in my career, while a professor at UM, I met the new CEO whose main goal was to sue the government for breach of contract for developing commercial fusion. Some of the key people involved were our neighbors, and we often discussed the chances of commercial fusion. They all said 50 years hence. That was in 1985.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Kip was visionary and very bright, but his salesmanship was ahead of reality. He died in 1975 while testifying in Congress, promising fusion around the corner – just one more experiment and a million or so dollars needed…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Sad story.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;color:#1F497D'>George <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> LCTG <lctg-bounces+ggamota=stma-llc.com@lists.toku.us> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Michael Alexander<br><b>Sent:</b> Monday, December 12, 2022 6:02 PM<br><b>To:</b> Lex Computer Group <lctg@lists.toku.us>; Drew King (dking65@kingconsulting.us) <dking65@kingconsulting.us><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] Nuclear fusion...<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Garamond",serif'>I will be interested to learn what Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) and Department of Energy (DOE) people have to say about this "scientific breakthrough". Undoubtedly it's a tremendous technical achievement, but right now I have reservations.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Garamond",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Garamond",serif'>As I've understood the LLNL project, it's based on suddenly compressing a pellet of fusible -- hydrogen-containing, with tailored proportions of deuterium and tritium -- material. To accomplish the compression, LLNL has constructed an array of synchronized high power lasers. The pellet is dropped into the spot where the laser beams intersect; when the pellet reaches that spot, the lasers fire, compressing the pellet to achieve the conditions for fusion (light carries momentum). I presume that, in order to create actual power generation, pellets will be dropped, one after the other, with lasers repetitively firing.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Garamond",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Garamond",serif'>This is a super-complicated scheme, which makes me wonder whether it can be used to produce energy continuously and reliably over months and years (assuming the energy can be extracted reliably and continuously). Moreover, I wonder how many such installations power companies would build and install, and whether they will develop the technical competence to run them. It will be interesting.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Garamond",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Garamond",serif'>As a language purist of sorts, by the way, I object to the achievement being touted as a <i>scientific</i> breakthrough: It is an engineering breakthrough.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Garamond",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Garamond",serif'> -- Mike Alexander<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Garamond",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Garamond",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Garamond",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div><div id="yahoo_quoted_1771520851"><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#26282A'>On Monday, December 12, 2022 at 05:29:53 PM EST, Drew King (<a href="mailto:dking65@kingconsulting.us">dking65@kingconsulting.us</a>) <<a href="mailto:dking65@kingconsulting.us">dking65@kingconsulting.us</a>> wrote: <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#26282A'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#26282A'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><div id=yiv2628931399><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#26282A'>All,<br><br>The Verge: A “scientific breakthrough” in nuclear fusion? How to watch the announcement tomorrow.<br><a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/12/23505416/nuclear-fusion-scientific-breakthrough-how-to-watch-announcement-biden" target="_blank">https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/12/23505416/nuclear-fusion-scientific-breakthrough-how-to-watch-announcement-biden</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#26282A'>-- <br>Drew King<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#26282A'>===============================================<br>::The Lexington Computer and Technology Group Mailing List::<br>Reply goes to sender only; Reply All to send to list.<br>Send to the list: <a href="mailto:LCTG@lists.toku.us">LCTG@lists.toku.us</a> Message archives: <a href="http://lists.toku.us/pipermail/lctg-toku.us/" target="_blank">http://lists.toku.us/pipermail/lctg-toku.us/</a><br>To subscribe: email <a href="mailto:lctg-subscribe@toku.us">lctg-subscribe@toku.us</a> To unsubscribe: email <a href="mailto:lctg-unsubscribe@toku.us">lctg-unsubscribe@toku.us</a><br>Future and Past meeting information: <a href="http://LCTG.toku.us" target="_blank">http://LCTG.toku.us</a><br>List information: <a href="http://lists.toku.us/listinfo.cgi/lctg-toku.us" target="_blank">http://lists.toku.us/listinfo.cgi/lctg-toku.us</a><br>This message was sent to <a href="mailto:mna.ma@yahoo.com.">mna.ma@yahoo.com.</a><br>Set your list options: <a href="http://lists.toku.us/options.cgi/lctg-toku.us/mna.ma@yahoo.com" target="_blank">http://lists.toku.us/options.cgi/lctg-toku.us/mna.ma@yahoo.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div></div></body></html>