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Latest News
Commercial nuclear innovation "new space" age
In early 2006, a start-up company launched a small rocket from a tiny island in the Pacific. It exploded, showering the island with debris. A year later, a second launch attempt sent a rocket to space but failed to make orbit, burning up in the atmosphere. Another year brought a third attempt—and a third failure. The following month, in September 2008, the company used the last of its funds to launch a fourth rocket. It reached orbit, making history as the first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket to do so.
G. L. Kulcinski
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 34 | Number 3 | November 1998 | Pages 477-783
Nonelectrical Applications | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A11963658
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A significant departure from the traditional approach to large DT tokamak fusion power plants is suggested. The new approach recognizes that near-term commercial applications for fusion energy may be needed to sustain another 40–50 years of public and private funding. Such funding is necessary to reach the ultimate potential of fusion energy, the production of safe, clean and economic electrical energy. Possible near-term applications are discussed with a focus on the production of medical isotopes. The use of small devices that can burn advanced fusion fuels such as D3He appear to be quite advantageous to this stage of fusion research.