A presentation given to Congressman BillPaxon
The world population will increase to ten billionpeople by the year 2050. By that time we will have exhausted all ofthe 7 trillion barrels of oil, equivalent (TBOE) of any kind ofeconomically recoverable fossil fuel on earth. We will have run outof places to store the toxic wastes from our nuclear fissionreactors. We will have no alternative resource but fusionenergy.
The physics of present fusion energy, involvingthe fusion of deuterium and tritium in a thermonuclear reactor (theTOKAMAK), is approaching resolution but problems of reactor materialssurvival remain, which will probably take 30 years to work out. Thisis due to the very destructive neutron generated in the reactionprocess.
In contrast, helium3 (He) is a completely cleansource of energy. Two He atoms are fused in a thermonuclear reactorto produce normal helium and energy. The fuel is non-radioactive, theprocess produces no radioactivity, and the residue produces noradioactivity. It is the perfect energy source. However the Hereaction takes place at 10 times the temperature of the TOKAMAK. Itwill probably take 10 to 20 years to work out the physics ofcontaining the reaction.
There is very little He on earth, only that whichwas left here when the earth was formed, and some additional amountwhich we have made in our reactors since then. It is generated fromnuclear reactions in the sun and comes to us on solar wind. Nonelands on earth because it is diverted away by the earth's magneticfield. But is does land on the moon. The moon is loaded with it. Itis estimated that there is ten times as much He energy on the moon asour total historical inventory of fossil fuels. 25 tonnes of He (oneshuttle load) would supply the total US energy needs for a whole yearin 1993. The shuttle load would have a value of about 25 billiondollars, which would equate to oil at $7 per barrel.
But to mine it on the moon and to get it here wewill need a space station by 2000 AD and a permanent human residentcolony on the moon by 2010 AD. The by-products of processing ore onthe moon will provide enough necessary materials (oxygen, nitrogen,carbon, etc.) to make the colony self-sustaining.
But if we want to get there by 2050 AD, we willhave to start now!
May we recommend some books?
ArnoBreker: His Art and Life, by B. John Zavrel
CollectedWritings of Arno Breker, by Arno Breker
Livingwith the Himalayan Masters, by Swami Rama
Alexanderthe Great, by Robin Lane Fox
Primerfor Those Who Would Govern, by Hermann Oberth