[EAS]Fission and Fusion

pjk pjk at design.eng.yale.edu
Sat Apr 21 19:40:36 EDT 2001


Subject:   Fission and Fusion

from
WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 20 Apr 01   Washington, DC

1. MININUKES: NEW LOW-YIELD NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE SOUGHT. Key
members of the Bush Administration are pushing for development of
small nuclear weapons to be used with earth-penetrating nose
cones to attack deeply-buried targets. The bonus for advocates
might be that mininukes will also blow up whatever remains of
that most hated target, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. 
Congress forbade development of such weapon in 1995, on the
grounds that it would blur the distinction between nuclear and
conventional weapons. But last year, Congress also called on the
Pentagon to examine ways to attack buried targets.  That report
is due in July, but a study by a Princeton physicist, just
released, finds that such weapons would have lethal side effects.
Penetration of 650 feet at the Nevada test site, well beyond
current technology, would be needed to fully contain a 5 kiloton
explosion, and these weapons would be extremely dirty.

[.....]

3. COLD FUSION: MAYBE ONE MORE STUDY WILL CLEAR THINGS UP.  Or
maybe not. We hear often these days from cold fusion believers
about the great progress that has been made in cold fusion.  We
will hear it again on April 30, at the APS meeting.  This week,
WN received a long report from the Naval Research Laboratory.  It
was dated March 26, 2001, just three days after the anniversary
of the 1989 cold fusion press conference in Salt Lake City.  The
report was about a Pons and Fleischmann kind of experiment: an
"open" electrolysis study of excess heat in the electrolysis of
heavy water, using a Pd-B alloy cathode. One of the authors is
none other than Martin Fleischmann.  How appropriate.   Twelve
years ago at this time, the news was about the unreliability of
closed calorimetry experiments.  Twelve years later, cold fusion
research is still struggling with the same point.  Progress?   

4. ENVIRONMENT: PICKING UP THE PIECES AFTER THE WARMING DEBACLE. 
Bush White House is taking a softer line on environmental issues. 
The US will sign the Stockholm Convention, aimed at reducing
chemical pollutants, and is reportedly looking for a way to get
back into global warming issues.

THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY (Note: Opinions are the author's,
and are not necessarily shared by the APS, but they should be.).

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Dear Colleagues -

What all this puts me sadly in mind of is the lack of a good
vigorous publication on technology policy issues. 

Years ago, the MIT-based TECHNOLOGY REVIEW was on my short list of
must-reads, because it had a serious policy component. But a couple
of years ago it became yet another cross between Scientific
American, WIRED and BUSINESS WEEK, all about the business of
innovation, and very little probing about either. 

I have not so far found a replacement. The quarterly "ISSUES in
Science and Technology" from the National Academy of Sciences, the
National Academy of Engineering and the Univ. of Texas at Dallas
suggests itself, but its editorial policy seems unresolved, the
quality and viewpoint of articles is all over the map, and as a
quarterly the publication lag is a little too long to be responsive
to current events except at stately remove.

If any of my readers have a suggestion about where to find good
technology policy writing, not just about defense and the
environment, but also more probing views of the industrial and
consumer sectors than the popular press seems capable of, please
let me know.

All best,  --PJK

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|  Peter J. Kindlmann     |  Prof.(Adjunct), Director of Undergrad.  |
|  Dept. of Elect. Engrg. |  Studies and the Morse Teaching Center   |
|  Yale University        |  tel.(203)432-4294, fax (203)458-3803    |
|  New Haven, CT 06520    |  email: pjk at design.eng.yale.edu          |
|        http://www.eng.yale.edu/EE-Labs/morse/about/pjk.html        |
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