With California and the nation facing energy troubles, Rep. Zoe Lofgren introduced bipartisan legislation Wednesday to accelerate research into fusion power, a potential long-term solution that promises cheap, environmentally friendly power if major scientific hurdles can be overcome. Fusion is the way the sun and stars produce their energy. Fusion energy has been proven possible in laboratories, but a power plant using the technology is still decades away, experts said. Fusion research funds, however, have decreased about 40 percent in the past decade, and Lofgren wants to reverse that. It would also require the energy secretary to submit a plan by July 2004 for the next major step in fusion energy, a burning-plasma experiment.
Fusion requires intense heat and pressure.
Under the proper conditions, like those inside the sun, the nuclei of two hydrogen atoms can be forced together so tightly that they fuse, forming a helium nucleus and releasing large amounts of energy that could be harnessed for electricity. The other fuel source, tritium, is widely available from seawater and land deposits. In 1989 two Utah scientists reported cold-fusion success in the laboratory by immersing metal electrodes in a jar of heavy water. Their results were later discredited, but some scientists continue to experiment with cold fusion. Thirty years ago they used to say it would be 30 years, and they're still saying the same thing,'' he said.