THE FUKUSHIMA LESSON
April 11, 2011
Some readers may have been surprised to see this page changing its title over time. At first, I had titled it "Getting Out of (This) Nuclear," because I still harbored the illusion that solutions might emerge from cutting-edge technologies, such as aneutronic fusion using Boron-11 + Hydrogen-1. A new type of fusion opened up by the remarkable 2006 experiment, conducted fortuitously at Sandia Laboratories in New Mexico by Chris Deeney's team. The work was analyzed by English physicist Malcolm Haines, a pioneer in plasma physics. It was published in 2006 in Physical Review Letters under the title "Over two billion degrees." The news immediately caught my attention, and a few months later I published a rigorous analysis of the article.
In September 2008, I attended the Vilnius Conference on High-Power Pulsed Systems, where I had the opportunity to speak at length with Keith Matzen, head of the Z-machine (which produced the results published in Physical Review Letters, using 18 million amperes). I was stunned to hear from Matzen himself and his assistant Mac Kee that the article in question was not valid, that Haines had made errors in analyzing the spectra, etc.
Why hadn’t Matzen published a correction? "To avoid upsetting good old Haines."
Who could possibly believe such a fairy tale?
When I questioned Gerold Yonas, whom I had met personally in 1976, he replied: "This concerns me. I will ask Matzen to publish a corrective article."
It was never published.
In October 2008, Sytgar was supposed to attend the Jeju Conference in Korea—where I was present—to present the results from ZR, but he did not show up. Pretext: "His father was seriously ill." Yet, after checking with the conference secretariat, I discovered he had not even registered. Strange, for someone who, along with 18 other signatories, was supposed to present his work at the most important international conference on Z-machine technology.
As soon as the chairman adjourned the session after announcing Sytgar’s absence, Oliver from Sandia rushed toward me and told me I had to stop spreading lies—that Haines had been wrong, period. Later, at my request, he assured me that Sandia "would publish a corrective article by 2011."
I’m ready to bet that this corrective article will never see the light of day. Because Haines was not wrong—neither in decoding the experimental data nor in his calculations. To claim otherwise is impossible, and no scientific arguments can dismantle his conclusions.
Then?
Then the Americans are disinforming, because such a result should never have been published. Because if it represents a fantastic hope for humanity—with the possibility of non-polluting fusion producing only helium as waste—it also represents the key to creating new "pure fusion bombs." In these weapons, fusion reactions can be triggered by an MHD compressor, not by an atomic bomb, which cannot be miniaturized due to the critical mass problem (which imposes a lower limit on fusion, achievable only through the explosion of several hundred tons of TNT).
These compressors were invented by the Russians in the 1950s. I explain all this on my website (&&& I’ll add the links now—I can’t do so because I’ve burned a hard drive).
During my trip to Brighton in January 2001, I met Americans working on "black programs," and I was stunned to see that the only thing that interested them in UFO files was the potential to develop new weapons based on novel concepts: hypersonic torpedoes, supersonic aircraft with "MHD-controlled" air intakes.
Back then, the shock was already severe. But with this story of aneutronic fusion and its immediate military exploitation, the circle is complete: these bombs can be miniaturized. And thus... they can be used. Moreover, by choosing the Boron-Hydrogen formula, one can achieve an "ecological bomb."
I am utterly disgusted.
I go even further: today’s scientists have no conscience whatsoever. They can be bought for a few pennies. I recall an issue of the Corriere du CNRS in which Charpentier, then head of the "Physical Sciences for Engineers" department, wrote: "The Army does not have enough contracts to meet researchers’ demands."
New genetic manipulation techniques are discovered? After a brief moratorium, we’re faced with GMOs. Researchers develop new medicines in the form of "new molecules," naturally protected by patents. The World Health Organization launches a vaccination campaign that... makes people sick. The agri-food industry adds ingredients to food that degrade our health. Agricultural research turns a blind eye to the vile motives of fertilizer and sterile seed sellers.
The French polytechnicians of the "Corps des Mines" created an atomic empire in France. You will read the confidential report circulated within AREVA, analyzing "The Impact of the Fukushima Events on the Nuclear Power Market." Soon we may even have nuclear waste in construction materials and packaging.
And what about science? Nothing anymore, for decades now. Theoretical physicists knit sweaters for winter with superstrings. At CERN’s giant Hadron Collider in Geneva, Higgs boson hunters remain empty-handed. At Cadarache, nuclear technocrats promise us "the sun in a test tube," after launching a 1.5 trillion euro project into the deepest technological fog (ITER). But what guarantees them a career in the land of plenty, allowing them to calmly say at the end: "Well, we were wrong."
They may apologize, perhaps, as Japanese technocrats did before a population paying the price for their recklessness and irresponsibility.
The press? It’s controlled, blind, or deaf. It devotes articles to "escort girls," these prostitutes elevated by the media to the status of celebrities. Why not make them Ministers, since our Ministers are in fact prostitutes?
Philosophy? Bernard-Henri Lévy invented "disposable thinking." As metaphysics collapses, philosophical cafés thrive.
With a group of engineer and technician friends, we are developing a report on renewable energy exploitation, which is progressing well. It’s obvious: we must put an end to this nuclear energy, now become a murderous madness. Civilian nuclear energy is the foundation of military nuclear power, concentrating power in the hands of oligarchies completely alienated from their people. France has always been ready to sell this technology to anyone. There are other ways to produce energy, free from military applications (except for Archimedes’ example, who burned enemy ships’ sails by harnessing sunlight). We must demand the decision to turn the page on nuclear energy—and this decision must be made. Only the people, not their corrupt and servile representatives, can voice such a demand—provided, however, that a plan...