Oil Independence, Carbon Emissions Reduction, and Clean Sustainable Energy all in 1

[FreakinDJ]

Fusion Energy commercially viable energy source in 10 years

I listened to Dr Ed Moses, and he said Fusion Energy could be commercially viable in 10 years. - or less

"Some pretty far out stuff can be done on the NIF, so instead of having to look through our beautiful telescopes and inferring what's going on, we'll be able to assemble a small supernova - very small - inside the target chamber on schedule, have all your diagnostics in place, and fire it away and study it."
Numerous technologies are expected to spin off from all the development work that has been done on the project. Moses cited optics used for NIF components as one area where the project has already made a big impact. "I think that over time these things will just be spreading more and more," he said.
http://spie.org/x34459.xml?ArticleID=x34459

In addition to an Endless supply of “Clean Energy” Dr. Moses also said the Fusion process could also be used to rid the world of growing stock piles of spent Nuclear Fuel Rods and other nuclear waste to include stock piles of “Depleted Urainium” by using them as fuel in the Fusion Reractor

This would be Oil Independence, Carbon Emissions Reduction, and Clean Sustainable Energy all in 1

It looks like nuclear fusion is no longer just for precocious teenagers. Among the flurry of experiments going down worldwide, significant work will start rolling at the US National Ignition Facility sometime this June. Under construction for twelve years, the lab will focus 192 giant laser beams on two forms of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium. Combining these isotopes at high temperatures generates a colossal amount of energy, recreating conditions "at the heart of the sun." The goal is to find a way to achieve controlled, sustained nuclear fusion and energy gain in a lab. According to the director of the facility, Dr. Ed Moses, "When all NIF lasers are fired at full energy, they will deliver 1.8 megajoules of ultraviolet energy to the target." Lasting just a few nanoseconds, the system is capable of generation 500 trillion watts of power -- more than the peak electrical generating power of the entire United States. Significant results are expected sometime between 2010 and 2012.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/31/nif-scientists-set-the-controls-for-nuclear-fusion/