FUSION NUCLEAR ENERGY: CHINA TAKES R&D LEAD

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Good afternoon!

Large swaths of lands in Asia were recently flooded, which paints a gloomy landscape in China, India, and Pakistan. Flooding, however, doesn’t kill civilizations, and floodwaters should be viewed on the positive side as providing, after calamities, much needed water and energy source.

As history has shown, it is the sudden absence of water, via large-scale calamity, that had killed many civilizations in antiquity. For as long as we have plenty of water reserves in the planet, civilization will continue. As energy source, water has provided hydro-electricity, geothermal (heated water from underground sources), and fuel cell medium (electrolysis).

The present onrush of waters could, in fact, serve as blessing to crack the news of a new form of energy: fusion nuclear energy. Talked about for decades as mere theory in classroom chemistry and physics and in coffee shops, fusion energy is now becoming more of a reality each day.

China unquestionably leads in the research & development efforts on fusion energy. Sometime in mid-2008 yet, the news leaked out to the world that China’s research scientists were able to make a breakthrough in the research phase of fusion energy. As per information leaking out, China is ahead of the rest of the world by at least a decade.

Reports had it at that time that a commercial breeder plant was still around ten (10) years in the offing. That means the earliest time for the release of such a breeder plant will be around 2018 yet. A tedious process indeed it is to perfect a model for commercial usage, but time runs fast these days, so let us anticipate the formal release of the first prototype just couples of years away from now.

The era of clean energy will surely receive a boost when fusion begins to roll, and by next decade we can safely forecast that fossil energy will rapidly decline in importance leading to its demise before 2030. I just wish the time table for burying fossil energy could be shortened, and like everyone else who is tired of the machinations of the oil oligarchs and financier-speculators in spot markets, I could hardly wait to offer dirges to fossil fuels.

[Philippines, 30 August 2010]

[See: IKONOKLAST: http://erleargonza.blogspot.com,

UNLADTAU: https://unladtau.wordpress.com,

COSMICBUHAY: http://cosmicbuhay.blogspot.com,

BRIGHTWORLD: http://erlefraynebrightworld.wordpress.com, ARTBLOG: http://erleargonza.wordpress.com,

ARGONZAPOEM: http://argonzapoem.blogspot.com]

US WATCH: S & T CUTTING EDGE EROSION

Erle Frayne  Argonza y Delago

 

As I’ve been stressing in previous articles, “it’s the economy” that count much as top agenda to be addressed by policy makers, bureaucrats and growth stakeholders in the USA. And this should be the primary concern of the political bigwigs when election comes by the end of the year.

 

A policy shift that will veer away America from the destructive flames of the ‘virtual economy’ founded on predatory finance, back to the ‘real economy’ based on tangible outputs in manufacturing, agriculture, infrastructures, S & T, and transportation & communications.

 

This time around, do make reflections on the S&T facet of America’s economy and society. For over two (2) centuries the USA was a hallmark of development, precisely due to the ingenuity manifested by its entrepreneurs who built the mighty industrial economy. The S&T facet of production has been a well established fact-of-life in America, and I should stress that facet here means ‘cutting-edge’.

 

Without S&T cutting-edge, America would still be a backwoods economy today, much like some backwoods states there. But since the founding fathers of America laid down the foundations of growth and prosperity—foundations based on the ‘real economy’ or ‘physical economy’—and propelled by the collective will to drive relentlessly till the grand visions are achieved, America has risen meteorically to where it is: a mighty economic juggernaut, the object of high esteem by many nations.  

 

But when the ‘virtual economy’ began encroaching on every economic sector there, most specially after the collapse of the gold standard, gradually did the priority for developing S & T erode. Today that erosion is severely felt, as many analysts from the West have heralded the admission that Asia had already surpassed the essential technological cutting edge of the West as early as 2007 yet.

 

Let’s take solar technology for instance. Solar panel design had already reached maturity in California, home to solar energy development. The early take off of the industry there prompted the investors to immediately establish branches overseas, one of which is the Philippines. One leading company was so surprised that its Filipino engineers (Philippine-based) had already surpassed the innovation designs of their California counterparts (Americans) before the end of 2007 yet.

 

Now, as you go from one economic sector to another, most specially the productive sectors, and assess the cutting edge situation of technologies, then you can see the reality that America & EU (West) were already surpassed. It won’t take long before the wealth boosted by the Asian cutting edge will move up, making Asian regions surpass both the US and EU in terms of GDP.

 

Well, the other option is the ‘neo-con’ option: nuke all competitor nations back to the stone age. If you do so, say if you nuke the Philippines today which designs and produces ½ of the worlds Intel chips, think of the consequences. Nuke India, China, ASEAN, South Korea, come on demonic neo-cons! Enjoy your Nero madness with wild abandon!

 

I’d rest my case.

 

[07 June 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]