Newly placed on the shelf: a 1/30 scale model of Doublet III 🤩
Doublet III is the predecessor to the presently operating DIII-D National Fusion Facility. For a real blast from the past, here is a 1980 publication about the “Status and Future Plans of Doublet III.”

Making Our Fusion Reactor Better, day 305 of 320: first test of full hydraulic lift feature is successful! Our new 50-ton neutral beam lifted to an angle of roughly 20-degrees 📐

A 1978 site layout of the General Atomics Company 3.6 MW fusion power plant as drawn by the Parsons Company. It’s just the buildings, not the device, and for some reason it looks like they sited it in Colorado 😀

Someone sent me this gem: a 1977 poster from Grumman Aerospace Horizons magazine detailing 50 years of nuclear fusion energy development. It extends from “Great Expectations” in 1951 to “Pay Dirt” in 1978. Separates work into U.S. National Labs and international efforts.

Just returned to school for an MBA. Ten years since I was last in school, and 14 years since my last class, it feels so odd to have homework again 📙

Making Our Fusion Reactor Better, day 242 of 320: all three spools of the 5 MW neutral beam are assembled on the new stand. Someday this entire 50-ton system will be sliding along its new rails.

The National Academies says we should emphasize designing and building a fusion power plant in the U.S.; will we get Congress to agree?

Making Our Fusion Reactor Better, day 220 of 320: concrete pouring is complete and mostly cured. What a gorgeous platform!

I’m surprised that Google smart displays cannot simply display a single, specific image I request from my photo gallery. I have some photos from my cookbooks and thought I could ask it to display one. But no, I have to web search for a recipe and accept what it finds.

It rained in San Diego last week… and now every hardware store is sold out of utility water pumps.