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U.S. Institutional Push for Fusion Power Within the Decade
6 October 2013
(LPAC)—An organization chaired by ex-Senator Gary Hart and including Norman Augustine, former head of the Defense Science Board and a longtime SDI advocate while on the board of directors at Lockheed Martin, has issued a detailed call for an Apollo-style crash program to produce a commercial fusion reactor within a decade. The American Security Project was launched five years after the 9/11 attacks as it became clear that American national security policy had gone off in a destructive direction and the United States was losing its place in the world. Earlier this year, the ASP issued a white paper titled "Fusion Power — A Ten year plan to Energy Security," calling for a crash program to build commercial fusion as the next technology leap in energy production. On April 2, 2013, Hart and Augustine co-authored a Forbes magazine article headlined "Challenge to America: Develop Fusion Power Within the Decade." In the article, they announced the release of their report and explained: "The American Security Project, a nonpartisan national security think tank, of which we are board members, has released a new report, Fusion Power, a 10-Year Plan for Energy Security that details how America can accelerate fusion development. This generation’s Apollo program should be new R&D in fusion energy. We need a national commitment to develop fusion power. This would mean committing $30 billion over the next ten years with the goal of achieving demonstration levels of fusion power. This will set the stage for full-scale commercial power that can drive American prosperity for centuries to come. "We can begin today. If we are serious about fusion development, the president should appoint a fusion power commissioner with the authority to organize and streamline the research, development, and deployment of fusion power, especially by directing new areas of research and development within our national laboratories. We know that any government program is plagued with overlapping entities and different budget authorities. A fusion power commissioner could cut through the red tape and avoid bureaucratic delays." The invoking of the image of the Apollo program and the call for a White House-based commissioner to drive the project is a clear call for a return to the policies and can-do mentality last seen in the presidency of John F. Kennedy, who did launch the Apollo Moon project that was completed within a decade — even though Kennedy himself was assassinated long before the Moon landing. Commenting on the call for a fusion Apollo project, Lyndon LaRouche fully supported the proposal and particularly noted that Kennedy did work through key organizers, working out of the White House, who got the job done. [JS_] |