At the symposium, Post and Nuckolls were asked to present their "Thoughts on Fusion Energy Development" to the audience.

Post said, "We have the basic scientific understanding, the computational horsepower, and the technology to take a new, broader, look at the problem. And we certainly have the financial wherewithal. For example, we are spending 700 billion dollars a year to import oil. One week of that rate of expenditure -- 11 billion dollars -- is equal to the entire U.S. magnetic fusion funding over its 56 plus years of existence. A four-tenths percent tax on that oil could pay for a fusion budget that is a factor of ten larger than the present budget."

Nuckolls proposed "A YES WE CAN Ten Year Inertial Fusion Energy Development Strategy," which he said could be accomplished with 10% of President-elect Obama's $150 billion projected 10 year energy program. He suggested there should be "four steps to fusion power: build an efficient high average power laser module, a target factory module and a fusion chamber; build a surged, heat capacity inertial fusion energy system; build a fusion engine; and build a fusion power plant."

Post and Nuckolls presentations are posted, along with other papers from the symposium at

http://fusionpower.org and click on Annual Meetings and Symposiums

or directly at

http://fire.pppl.gov/fpa_annual_meet.html

A complete list of FPA Award winners is posted at

http://fusionpower.org and click on Awards.