Lawrence Livermore Lab article

["Quang Le" <qmle@icnpharm.com>]

With all the negative/political/anti-nuclear news articles we have seen
lately, it was refreshing to see one that's somewhat scientifically based.
An article that appears in the Orange County (California) Register today
talks about the demolition of the Mirror Fusion Test Facility at LLNL. The
article, entitled "Fusion facility lands in scrap heap", talks about the
waste that results when the government shifts its priorities and "scraps"
years and millions of $ invested in promising scientific projects. The
author (Glannda Chui) refers to the Livermore facility as "a symbol of
government waste and of a fluky political process that has trouble
sustaining big scientific projects".

The author goes through great lengths to explain the fusion process and how
it could offer "a safe, abundant and inexhaustible source of power".

The short-sightedness of government's philosophies is made apparent with
"Born during an energy crisis...", "But even before construction finished,
the oil embargo ended. Energy prices plunged..." and "it [the project] was
killed by the Reagan administration...Now, the fusion facility is being
scrapped at a time when the need for non polluting sources of energy seems
more urgent than ever."

I, personally, don't know much about this project but I believe that
articles such as this one would definitely help the public realize how
urgent a need there is to address the energy sources dilemma and how
wasteful it can be to sacrifice sound and promising (sometimes proven, like
in the case of nuclear power) resources under the pressure of short term
goals and politics.

I checked the Register web site but could not find the article. If anyone
is interested, e-mail me privately and I'll be glad to fax a copy.

Quang Le, RSO
ICN Biomedicals
<qmle@icnpharm.com>