Homemade 'Fusors' Glow, But Don't Produce Power;
Joining the 'Neutron Club' {by SAM SCHECHNER}
 
 
PITTSBURGH -- In the garage of his house, Frank Sanns spends nights tinkering with one of his prized possessions: a working nuclear-fusion reactor.
 
Mr. Sanns, 51 years old, is part of a small subculture of gearheads, amateur physicists and science-fiction fans who are trying to build fusion reactors in their basements, backyards and home laboratories. Mr. Sanns, who owns a banquet hall here, believes he's on track to make fusion a viable power source.
 
"I'm a dreamer," he says.
In Richmond, Va., Richard and Kit Hull share a house with three cats, eight cars and a lab featuring a working nuclear fusion reactor. WSJ's Sam Schechner reports.
 
Many of these hobbyists call themselves "fusioneers," and have formed a loosely knit community that numbers more than 100 world-wide. Getting into their elite "Neutron Club" requires building a tabletop reactor that successfully fuses hydrogen isotopes and glows like a miniature star. Only 42 have qualified; some have T-shirts that read "Fusion -- been there...done that."
 
Called fusors and based on a 1960s design first developed by Philo T. Farnsworth, an inventor of television, the reactors are typically small steel spheres with wires and tubes sticking out and a glass window for looking inside. But they won't be powering homes anytime soon -- for now, fusors use far more energy than they produce.
 
Fusion, which releases energy by forcing two atoms close enough together that they join to become a heavier atom, is the process that powers the sun and stars. Replicating that on Earth requires enormous amounts of energy. For decades, scientists have been experimenting with various methods to fuse atoms, including using magnetic fields and lasers. Even a nearly $15 billion multinational project to build a fusion reactor in southern France is only intended to show that fusion power is technically feasible, not to actually tap it.
 
But the allure is strong. A fusion power plant would likely be fueled by deuterium and tritium, both isotopes of hydrogen that are in plentiful supply. Fusion advocates say reactors would be relatively clean, generating virtually no air pollution and little long-lived radioactive waste. Today's nuclear power plants, in contrast, are fission-based, meaning they split atoms and create a highly radioactive waste that can take millennia to decompose.
 
While some amateurs, like Mr. Sanns, think fusion power holds promise, others are less hopeful. "Basically, it's almost like, over the gates of hell, 'Abandon hope all ye who enter,'" says Richard Hull, who built his first working fusor nearly a decade ago.
 
Mr. Hull, a 62-year-old electronics engineer in Richmond, Va., where he lives with his wife, Kit, and three cats, has been obsessed with radioactivity since he was a boy. He has collected more than a dozen Geiger counters, built his own gamma-ray spectrometer, and accumulated hundreds of books, including many from the dawn of the Nuclear Age and mid-20th century, when he remembers ordering radioactive isotopes by mail.
 
He has uranium rods, old clocks with radium faces and samples of rock from the test site where the first atomic bomb was detonated. His bathroom is stocked with back issues of the hobbyist periodical Nuts and Volts. Every year, he hosts an amateur-science gathering that attracts dozens of hobbyists from across the country. "Most of these people like things that go bang, pop, sput, fizz," says Mr. Hull.
 
 
Electrocution Jitters
 
Mr. Hull started on his fusion path in late 1997, when science-fiction author and electrical-engineering technologist Tom Ligon visited Mr. Hull's home for the amateur-science event. Mr. Ligon brought with him a model of a fusor that he called "Dog and Pony Show I." Only a demo, the device didn't actually fuse atoms, but it did light up like a neon light in a plastic chamber -- and Mr. Hull was hooked. He built his own fusor in "literally 31 days," he says, and is now preparing to build his fifth.
 
Mr. Hull began posting about his reactor on a Web site dedicated to Mr. Farnsworth. Others joined him, asking questions, trading ideas, and eventually uploading photographs of their own reactors.
 
On the group's site, now at www.fusor.net, Mr. Hull maintains a list of fusioneers, including Jon Rosenstiel, a 65-year-old retired mechanical engineer for motocross-racing teams, and Carl Willis, a 27-year-old doctoral student at Ohio State University, who keeps his fusor just a few feet from his bed.
 
Though fusors don't produce any significant amount of radioactive waste, fusioneers say there is a danger of electrocution. The reactors use extremely high voltage -- often more than 10,000 volts of electricity running through a hollow wire sphere -- to pull ions of deuterium toward the center of the device, where some of them collide and fuse into new atoms. They require special equipment to deliver that voltage, but because fusors run at a very low amperage, amateur devices can draw less power from the wall than a big plasma TV. The process does produce x-rays and, when fusion actually occurs, neutrons -- both of which are dangerous at sufficient dosages.
 
"People have to be very careful," says Gerald L. Kulcinski, a professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and director of the Fusion Technology Institute there. "I think it's great that we've got the enthusiasm of a lot of people. It's impressive. But I don't want anyone to get hurt."
 
There's another downside to building fusors, says Mr. Hull: "Many people have a knee-jerk reaction that if you've got anything nuclear, you're a possible terrorist."
 
A couple of years ago, when a Detroit-area high-school student named Thiago Olson built a fusor, the Michigan Department of Community Health contacted him to examine it. "I was a little worried," says Mr. Olson, now 19. The department determined that Mr. Olson's fusor wasn't a "registerable radiation machine" and posed no hazard, according to a spokeswoman.
 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which regulates commercial x-ray emitters, says it doesn't regulate hobbyists, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it doesn't regulate domestic uses of deuterium. State rules vary.
 
{In his home lab, Richard Hull sits in front of his current fusor, the fourth he's built since 1997. He's already gathering parts for his fifth}.
 
In Virginia, for example, the state Department of Health registers radiation-emitting imaging devices for commercial use, but a spokeswoman says it doesn't require registration of equipment for personal use. In Pennsylvania, any device that could potentially emit x-rays or other radiation must be registered, according to a spokesman for the state's Department of Environmental Protection.
 
Mr. Sanns says his fusor isn't registered, but he studiously monitors radiation emissions and doesn't run it at high enough levels to generate x-rays that can penetrate its steel shell. "I take x-rays very, very seriously," he says. "I'm not going to die because of stupid judgment."
 
 
Sparks of Innovation
 
On Mr. Hull's block, his next-door neighbor Robert Bauer is one of the few people who know the extent of what Mr. Hull does in his lab. In the early 1990s, Mr. Bauer and his wife noticed bright sparks coming off the Hulls' house and warned them -- only to learn the sparks were a side-effect of Mr. Hull's experimentation with Tesla coils, high-voltage devices developed by the inventor Nikola Tesla.
 
"I'm expecting there'll be a great big smoldering hole there one day," jokes Mr. Bauer, an electrician and motorcycle enthusiast with a thick beard, gesturing at the Hull's home with a laugh. Mrs. Hull, who ventures into her husband's lab from time to time, but prefers to spend her free time solving puzzle books, is similarly sanguine. "As long as he doesn't blow the place up, I'm OK," she says.
 
Robert L. Hirsch, 73, who helped develop the fusor's basic design with Mr. Farnsworth in the 1960s, before directing fusion research at what was then called the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in the early 1970s, says he's surprised and delighted that amateurs have picked up his old device.
 
"You can never tell where the sparks of innovation are going to come," says Mr. Hirsch.

that's actually a cool article.
 
I love whacked out inovators

I had a thought,,, (Oh, my GOD ):
 
The link does not show up, it opend a notepad page. to get to it, type "Neutron Club fusioneers" into google, and click 2nd link.
 
But anyway, I think there is something that totally facinates me about this fusion club and fusion in general. So I had to look them up, and it was as I suspected. below is the text, with the names of the folks highlighted. just browse it, see if you can figure out what I think is pertinent there.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
This is a list of AMATEUR fusioneers and experimenters.
 
 
1. "Scoungers Club"
 
Known active Amateur fusioneers who have indicated that they are assembling parts
 

Jochen Kronjaeger
Richard Hester
Don Harris
Ryan Edgar
Kerry Bonin
Roderick Sprague IV
Trevor Mc Williams
Liam Bowen
Stephen Zavodny
Greg Courville
Chris Trent
Bill Wyant
Dale Chatham & John Mascio
Anthony Webb
Michael Collins
Carl Adams
Walt Sorensen
Wyatt Paul
Alexander Roubian
Mike Beauford
Kenyatta Harris
Michael Friske
Dave Rosignoli
Nigel Jarman (Nanos)
Charlie Melvin
Alex Kingsbury

 

 
2. "The Plasma Club"
 
These people have shown that they are operating a Demo fusor
(using air or other gases):
 
Joshua Resnick
Ed Wingate
Marcus Kolb
Gerald Morris
Ben Phoenix
Tom Dressel
Dave Cooper
Mike Veldman
Colin Heath
Mark Rowley
Brian Willard
Garrett Young
Todd Coleman
Brad Collier
John & Tania Hendron
R. Scott Coppersmith
David Hansen
Jason Heidecker
Oliver Greenaway
Adam Szendrey
Stanley Clark
James Broussard
University of South Florida senior project group - names:
(Carl Adams, Daniel Bazley, James Jahner, Maria Ooms)
Doug Coulter
Matthew Honickman
Mike Maga
Charles Elkins
Andrew Gzankowski
Mark Siegel
Roman Radtke
Fabio Bragonzi - Italy
U Mass, Lowell - Josh Bevan & others. Group effort.
Dan Tibbets

 
3. "The Neutron Club"
 
These people have operated a neutron producing fusor or fusion system.
(normally d-d fusion):
 
Richard Hull - 10e5 neutron mark 3/99
Scott Little
Joe Zambelli - Half mega mark 12/01
Tom Ligon
Michael Li - winner $75k Intel scholarship (fusor)
Mike Amann
Jon Rosenstiel - Mega neutron mark 10e6 11/02
Gerardo Meiro - First non-US neutron Club member
Phillip Fostini
Carl Willis - advanced activation work
Larry Leins - pulsed fusor work
Craig Wallace - winner $1.5k Intel 2nd place (Fusor)
Frank Sanns
Brian McDermott
Fergus Noble & Henry Hallam - first UK neutron members
Adam Parker - winner of $10k Alabama scholarship in science
Mark Langdon
Thiago Olson
Wayne Rodgers
Eric Stroud
Wilfried Heil & Noemi Zudor - Smallest fusor ~3" diameter
Raymond Jimenez
Alex & Ben Haylett - first to use heavy water electrolysis
Steven Sesselmann - first Aussie fusion, New Star system design
Andrew Seltzman
***********
Utrecht University fusor group, poster is Benjamin Brenny
Group includes: Sander Mann, Dick Abma, Thijs Krijger, Remco Van den
Dungen, Nivard Kagie
***********
Bob Heil
***********
Peninsula College - student group
Ho Yee Hui, Derek Madison, Devon McMinn, Sarah Mangiameli
Chris Milroy, Aaron Stoll, Jeff Zirul
***********
 
While most of the above have used the particle colliding, inertial
electrostatic confinement, "Farnsworth fusor" device, this list is not
limited to this approach. Any form of actual "hands-on",
experimental,fusion research effort and its success will be logged here.

 
It must be realized that this list is not regularly purged based on
moribund activity. It is, instead, assembled to bear witness to any
and all who have put forth some fusion related effort in the past or
are working at present in the effort. Some of the folks on this list
have long ago departed or ceased work in their fusion quest.
--------------------------------------------- END OF ARTICLE------
 
 
 
 
 
 
Your guess,,,,, what do you notice about these people that have such a keen interest in the subject matter, so as to voluntarily do these home experiments, just to be in this "club"?
 

Ah ... Their all crazy !!! These fools are gonna create a black hole the size of a marble in there basement and then were all screwed. Can we just close Pandoras box please? Just go to work and be happy. Worldwide birth control!! Solves all our problems.
 
D

It kinda reminds of the nuclear physicists that worked at a linear accelerator, and one summer, they decided to set the Guiness World Record for getting BBQ grill coals ignited and ready for use the fastest.
 
What a panic, they used state of the art science and had their results down to the nearest nano second LOL! like some big-arse, serious nuclear test or something.
 
Yes, crazy. like a bunch of kids having fun, much like the fusioneers.
 
BUT.... your answer needs a bit of refinement.

D'man got it.
 
they're all men.
 
Oh, do I wish CSW was still here. I can hear him now, "The fusioneers are guilty of discrimination". yup, we had some good battles.
 
I always tried to point out to Chris that in a working environment, one could CLAIM that discrimination was taking place whenever an inbalance existed, without backing it up, of course.
 
But when it came to ppl doing things all on their own, and therefor, having no BOSS to blame for the results, it really is no surprise to see it all male all the time, in the case of the hard sciences, or innovation, or both, as in this case.
 
oh, the days!
 

 
 
Maria Ooms just saw this and she called Sarah Mangiameli and they are pissed.
 
--SoCo

Oh, mister SoCo, you are so right! I didn't miss that.
 
those two momen were part of student groups - meaning, they were not part of the decision making process to get themselves invovled in such an endeavor. It was a demand put on them as part of their laboratory education
 
all individuals that participated in the making of a home version of the fussion machine are men. simple as that. they chose to rise to the occasion, yet not one woman ever did (so far). that's not my fault! you can shoot me for being the messenger but not because I lied or created the situation myself.
 
Now, even if you claim that the two women should COUNT anyway, then fine.... there are still many scores of men (104) to the two women. and any politically correct person would instantly claim "DISCRIMINATION" except for one thing,,, there is no BOSS involved, so there is no one to blame for discrimination. All people deciding to become part of the fussioneers group did so as a personal decision with generally, no "help" or "deterent" from above. It seems men like these challenges and women shun them. sound familiar?
 
if csw was still here, he'd be biting a bullet to see how he could attack my argument because he just KNOWS I am wrong. this is the guy that told me that if a business that had a laboratory with 10 scientists (or so) working there and none were women, he would charge the business with discrimination, no matter what! I asked csw, what if they never had a single woman applicant, something that is not too impossible. it did not matter one single bit to Chris, and he is a lawyer LOL! Anyway, he would feel very frustrated here, as there is no "boogie man" to blame for the discrepancy in gender counts. too bad, eh? maybe all that actually says something that the politcally correct just can't handle.
 
sorry,,,,, it's "natural selection", not discrimination. Blame God.