Author: Bromberg, Joan Lisa
Title: Fusion: Science, Politics, and the Invention of a New Energy Source
Description: Cambridge [MA], MIT Press, (1982). orig.cloth. 24x15cm, xxvi,344 pp. Minor rubbing. VG. dustwrapper. ¶ Contents: Inventing a New Energy Source; The Initiators; Project Sherwood; The Problem of Instability; A Sherwood Spectacular; Waterrshed; The Mirror Confronts Instability; The Doldrums, Tokamak; Fusion Enters the Energy Marketplace; The Transition to Big Science; Choosing Among Approaches; Which Way tot he Future; Appendices: A Glossary of Magnetic Fusion Terms; A Chronology of Major Experiments [For more than thirty years, the prospect of unlimited fusion energy has attracted scientists and the public. Joan Lisa Bromberg's book documents the history of the American magnetic fusion reactor program. It is also a lively account that will inform interested citizens of limited technical background who are concerned with the nation's energy strategy. The book carries the story from the program's inception under the auspices of the Atomic Energy Commission in 1951 to its operations under the then-new Department of Energy in 1978. Fusion concentrates on the four federally funded laboratories where most of the money has been spent (about $2 billion so far): Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore, and Princeton. It recounts the crucial experiments along the way - the ones that succeeded, the ones that failed, the ones that showed "promise." And it explains and diagrams the various magnetic configurations and devices that were developed and tested: the "stellarator," the "pinch," the "mirror," the " tokamak."..." - Publisher's description]

Keywords: Nuclear Physics, Magnetic Fusion, Atomic Energy, United States, Policy, History of Science, , ,