• Developing fusion power will cost less than putting a man on the moon. The Manhattan and Apollo programs have shown that the scientific and engineering communities have the ingenuity to achieve almost unimaginable goals once it is driven by national priorities, a sense of urgency, personal challenge, and a sense of national pride. With seven nations having banded together to push forward on fusion, the USA has lost its chance to do this alone. However, we are still far

from the goal because the most difficult problems of materials engineering have yet to be solved. The USA can regain its former leadership in fusion research by building one or more large FDFs to solve these problems simultaneously with ITER to shorten the time to a working reactor.

• The development of wind and solar power in private industry has stimulated the economy. Fusion machines are big and must be funded by the government, but the economic stimulus can also be generated by the subcontracts awarded to small companies. For instance, such components as superconducting strands, silicon carbide tiles, blanket modules, RF antennas, and even 3D computations can all be parceled out to start-up companies. New jobs will be created, and new financing will be secured.

• A high-priority Apollo-like program to put fusion on a fast track will cost less than Apollo did and will solve the CO2 problem, the fossil-fuel shortage problem, and the oil dependence problem all at once.