The Nuclear Fusion Era Has Arrived

In December of 2022, the National Ignition Facility reached an unprecedented milestone in nuclear fusion research: passing the vaunted "breakeven" point.

Now, for the second time and with even better efficiency, more energy was liberated from a fusion reaction than was used to create the fusion reaction: a repeat, verification, and improvement of the original breakthrough.

The old saying of "fusion is 50 years away, and always will be" is no longer the case. But will we invest enough resources in the right places to bring it to fruition?

Last year, on December 5, 2022, an incredible milestone was achieved: for the first time, a nuclear fusion reaction experienced what’s known as a net energy gain. 

This means, remarkably, that the energy liberated from a nuclear fusion reaction exceeded the (useful) energy that was inputted into the reaction. 

This wasn’t achieved by a magnetic confinement fusion reactor, which is where most of the worldwide fusion funding is centered, nor by any among the hundreds of private laboratories dedicated to bringing commercial fusion to the public, but rather by a largely forgotten source: the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

This year, on July 30, 2023, the National Ignition Facility did it again, and in an even superior fashion: repeating their results and achieving an even higher energy yield than in the December prior.

 All of this was achieved despite a paltry amount of funding being directed toward nuclear fusion research by the U.S. government: an average of just half-a-billion dollars per year across all endeavors, combined. 

With this recent confirmation, the path toward developing widespread nuclear fusion as the anchor to a clean, carbon-neutral energy economy is now clearer than ever. 

But in order to truly achieve it, we not only need to be brave and bold, but also focused, as the distractions and pitfalls could truly divert us from the ultimate goal.  READ MORE...

How Government Documents Are Classified

Documents sought by the U.S. Justice Department from former President Donald Trump may contain material related to what The New York Times described as “some of the most highly classified programs run by the United States.” The Washington Post reported that “classified documents relating to nuclear weapons were among the items FBI agents sought” during a search of Trump’s Florida home on Aug. 8, 2022.

Classified information is the kind of material that the U.S. government or an agency deems sensitive enough to national security that access to it must be controlled and restricted.

There are several degrees of classification. Documents related to nuclear weapons will have different classification levels depending on the sensitivity of the information contained. Documents containing information related to nuclear weapons design or their location would be highly classified. Other information may still be highly classified but deemed not as sensitive. For example, in 2010 President Barack Obama declassified the number of nuclear weapons in the U.S. stockpile.

In general, classified documents must be handled in a way that protects the integrity and confidentiality of the information they contain. This includes securing documents in a safe or other authorized storage container when the documents are not being used by staff. If staff needs to move them from one place to another, they must follow security protocols to do so.

Though classified information can be taken off the premises in the course of official duties, taking classified documents home is prohibited by executive order.

Clearance and classification
Before coming to academia, I worked for many years as an analyst at both the State Department and the Department of Defense.

I held a top-secret clearance, frequently worked with classified information and participated in classified meetings. For example, I dealt with information related to weapons of mass destruction and their proliferation.

Handling written classified information is generally straightforward. Documents are marked indicating classification levels.

Tens of thousands of people working for the U.S. government both directly and as contractors have security clearances allowing access to classified information. Many people with security clearances never handle classified material but need to be cleared so they can be present when classified information is discussed.

But not all of classified details describe covert operations or identities of spies. Many are rather mundane. A former colleague of mine who was a retired CIA analyst used to tell his students he would never knowingly, but almost certainly would inadvertently, share a tidbit of classified information in the classroom. It is difficult to remember many “smaller” details that are sensitive.

Dealing with large amounts of classified information over a career increases the possibility of accidentally sharing a small nugget. Sharing classified information knowingly, or revealing information one should know is sensitive, is a different matter.

Here’s how the system of classification works.

Classification levels and content
The U.S. government uses three levels of classification to designate how sensitive certain information is: confidential, secret and top secret.

The lowest level, confidential, designates information whose release could damage U.S. national security. The designation “secret” refers to information whose disclosure could cause “serious” damage to U.S. national security. The designation “top secret” means disclosure of the document could cause “exceptionally grave” damage to national security.

At the top-secret level, some information is “compartmented.” That means only certain people who have a top-secret security clearance may view it to reduce the risk of any revelations. Just because someone has a clearance at a level that matches a document doesn’t mean the person has a need to access it.

This is often used for the most highly sensitive information, such as that pertaining to sources and methods – that is, how and from where intelligence is collected.

Several other designations indicate restricted access within the top-secret and secret designations. The Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information is a designation given to classified material related to the design and operation of nuclear weapons. This designation would be in addition to a secret or top-secret designation, but is not a level of classification. For example, a person with a top-secret clearance working on counterinsurgency issues would not have Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information access.

It is common for written documents to contain information that is classified at different levels, and some information that isn’t even classified. Individual paragraphs are marked to indicate the level of classification. For example, a document’s title might be preceded with the marker “U,” indicating the title and existence of the document are unclassified.

Within a document, paragraphs might carry the markers “S” for secret, “C” for confidential or “TS” for top secret. The highest classification of any portion of the document determines its overall classification. This approach allows for the easy identification and removal of classified portions of a document so that less sensitive sections can be shared in unclassified settings.

A sitting president can access any classified material.   READ MORE...

Relax... Don't Worry...

Dan Bongino took Rush Limbaugh's spot on talk radio and moved from NYC to Florida and is a regular guest on FOX News...  Today he was interviewed on FOX News as a result of the FBI's raid of former President Trump's home in Florida...   claiming that Trump took classified documents when he left the Whitehouse, knowing that his defense would be, I declassified them before I left office...  but they did the deed anyway.

Dan was LIVID, to say the least and while he said that he was a conservative and therefore a Republican but not because of the current Republicans in Congress because they are a DO NOTHING group of politicians and need to immediately be removed.  Dan said the GOP now TALKS BOLD AND BIG but when it comes to action, they accomplish nothing.

Dan Bongino pretty much reflects my sentiments about all of the Congressional Republicans except for Lindsey Graham and a couple of others that FOX News interviews regularly...

The Democrats play dirty but piss, bitch, and moan when others play dirty against them...

The Democrats lie and really do not feel guilty about their lies as they continue to make these lies daily...

The Democrats are moving closer and closer to a Socialistic form of government where the government provides you with everything -- just like the movie/show STAR TREK...

The Democrats have mainstream media covering the ASSES, networks like CNN, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, PBR...

If this is the kind of government that you want...  then have it...  and, the reason that I say this is because HISTORICALLY all socialistic governments FAIL...

History always repeats itself whether we like it or not and regardless if this is what some of want or don't want...

In order to have a socialistic government, two things have to happen.

First - the government must insure that it can collect taxes from the WEALTHY in order to pay for the socialistic society...  USA millionaires and billionaires already have their money shelter away from taxes in the Grand Caymans.

Second - the government must insure that ALL BUSINESSES will be willing to pay their fair share of whatever...  or be taken over (OWNED) by the federal government...  then the government can manage the business any way they like.

Do you really think first or second will happen in the US of A?

Right now, about 70% of what we receive is considered to already be SOCIALISTIC in nature, such as:

• Public Education
• Public Transportation
• Public Parks and Recreation
• Social Security
• Medicare
• Unemployment Insurance

These programs already cost the country so much money that we are ASSHOLE deep in debt with CHINA owning ONE-THIRD of that debt...  can you imagine that China owns 1/3 of our debt?

What do we do when they DEMAND their money back?

Small Nuclear Reactors

Advanced Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are a key part of the Department’s goal to develop safe, clean, and affordable nuclear power options. The advanced SMRs currently under development in the United States represent a variety of sizes, technology options, capabilities, and deployment scenarios. These advanced reactors, envisioned to vary in size from tens of megawatts up to hundreds of megawatts, can be used for power generation, process heat, desalination, or other industrial uses. SMR designs may employ light water as a coolant or other non-light water coolants such as a gas, liquid metal, or molten salt.

Advanced SMRs offer many advantages, such as relatively small physical footprints, reduced capital investment, ability to be sited in locations not possible for larger nuclear plants, and provisions for incremental power additions. SMRs also offer distinct safeguards, security and nonproliferation advantages.

The Department has long recognized the transformational value that advanced SMRs can provide to the nation’s economic, energy security, and environmental outlook. Accordingly, the Department has provided substantial support to the development of light water-cooled SMRs, which are under licensing review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and will likely be deployed in the late 2020s to early 2030s. The Department is also interested in the development of SMRs that use nontraditional coolants such as liquid metals, salts, and gases for the potential safety, operational, and economic benefits they offer.

Advanced SMR R&D Program
Building on the successes of the SMR Licensing Technical Support (LTS) program, the Advanced SMR R&D program was initiated in FY2019 and supports research, development, and deployment activities to accelerate the availability of U.S.-based SMR technologies into domestic and international markets. Significant technology development and licensing risks remain in bringing advanced SMR designs to market and government support is required to achieve domestic deployment of SMRs by the late 2020s or early 2030s. TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS, CLICK HERE...

Through this program, the Department has partnered with NuScale Power and Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) to demonstrate a first-of-a-kind reactor technology at the Idaho National Laboratory this decade. Through these efforts, the Department will provide broad benefits to other domestic reactor developers by resolving many technical and licensing issues that are generic to SMR technologies, while promoting U.S. energy independence, energy dominance, and electricity grid resilience, and assuring that there is a future supply of clean, reliable baseload power.

Where Do We Go For The Truth???

1. 
   Do we need to wear facemasks or not?
   
2. Are we protected from COVID if we are vaccinated?
3. Are we really following the science or not?
4. Do facemasks really help?
5. Do we need another lockdown?
6. Do children need to wear facemasks?
7. Are teacher's unions just being self-serving?
8. Are American companies investing in China?
9. Is China growing faster than the US?
10. Does China have a bigger military than the US?
11. Had US educated become diluted?
12. Do Americans know how to retain knowledge?
13. Why is our southern border so open to illegal immigration?
14. Is there a different set of rules for the wealthy and/or powerful?
15. Why do some many Americans use illegal drugs?
16. Is the US still a racist country?
17. Does the mainstream media censor the NEWS?
18. Is our national debt really a problem?
19. Does too much government spending cause inflation?
20. Can you really trust politicians to tell you the truth?

NOTE:  Ever since Donald Trump became President of the USA, we have had problems with the division in this country...  and, it appears that this division is GETTING STRONGER instead of weaker putting us in a position of being NOT UNITED at all...  If fact, we are moving from what MLK Jr wanted which was judging a person on their character not their color...  currently, we want to judge people on their color, not their character.  This is resulting from the BLM movement, and CRT race theory that educators are saying is not being taught in our public schools...  yet, the students come home and say that it is...  We are not being taught that being white is BAD and being black is GOOD...  THAT IS COLOR NOT CHARACTER...   Einstein...

GOVERNMENT Finally Admits UFOs

I never thought that I would see the day that our US Government would admit the existence of UFOs...