News / Brèves Energy of the Future / L’énergie du futur Back to previous selection / Retour à la sélection précédente Will the U.S. (Finally) Join the Lunar/Helium-3 Revolution? 23 August 2014 (EIRNS)—Decades have been lost in the quest to bring about the development of fusion energy using advanced fuels, and the mining of helium-3 on the Moon to make that goal realizable. In an interview yesterday with EIR, Dr. Gerald Kulcinski, head of the Fusion Technology Institute at the University of Wisconsin, reviewed the research that his team of scientists has carried out since the mid-1980s, when a combination of fusion scientists and lunar geologists realized that on the Moon there is a treasure trove of material that could power the Earth for millennia. At that time, programs were started at the university to design both a fusion reactor that could make use of the helium-3 fusion process, and machines that could mine the Moon to secure the raw material for the fuel. Kulcinski described the advantages inherent in proceeding to fusion fuels using helium-3, rather than today’s more easily obtainable deuterium/tritium reaction, being tested in Tokamak experiments. These advantages extend not only to dramatically increased efficiency in the fusion process itself, and the techniques for producing electricity, but also for non-electric applications, such as space propulsion. He stressed that while studies have been done, there have not been the resources to do experimental or engineering work in the U.S. on a larger-than-university scale, in either the fusion or the mining technologies. While not familiar with other than public sources concerning the Chinese fusion and lunar programs, he is certain they are already doing fusion experiments with helium-3. Marsha Freeman