Taking the Measure

What do you do in your spare time? Watch the Olympics? You might consider building your own nuclear fusion device. That, reports the Wall Street Journal, is the focus of “a small subculture of gearheads, amateur physicists, and science-fiction fans who are trying to build fusion reactors in their basements, backyards, and home laboratories.” Such hobbyists, the Journal notes, “call themselves "fusioneers," and have formed a loosely knit community that numbers more than 100 worldwide.” Only 42 have successfully built tabletop reactors—called fusors—thereby qualifying them for membership in the elite "Neutron Club."

Fusors are based on a 1960s design pioneered by Philo T. Farnsworth and Robert L. Hirsch, the Journal notes. It paraphrases Hirsch as saying that he's “surprised and delighted that amateurs have picked up his old device.”

Being a fusioneer is not without its downsides. Successful fusors produce x-rays and neutrons and require voltage on the order of 10,000 V to operate. Then of course there is the risk of running afoul of the Department of Homeland Security. The Journal quotes one home-fusion enthusiast as saying “Many people have a knee-jerk reaction that if you've got anything nuclear, you're a possible terrorist."

So far, home fusion reactors require much more energy than they produce, so there is a lot of room for improvement. But who knows? A part-time experimenter might develop an approach that leads to practical large-scale fusion before the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) consortium does.

By the way, Paul Rako doesn't want to see wind turbines in his backyard, but he might be ok with a fusion reactor.