From Peter Utley.
AT the outbreak of the Second World War, theoretical nuclear physics had reached a point at which only a practical test could find a proven result.

The possible consequences of a large experiment made scientists hesitate. The entry of the USA into the war and particularly the attack by Japan resulted in pressure and the necessary funding to examine the possibility of a nuclear weapon.

When the first atom bomb test took place at Almagorda in 1942, the scientists anticipated a colossal explosion and an expanding reaction. What they did not know was where, or if, the reaction would stop. If it continued, it could have consumed life on earth.

We are in much the same position today. Theoretical physics has again reached the point at which only a major practical test can prove the theory. Theoretically, sub-atomic particles brought into violent collision could create the conditions which existed after the Big Bang from which the world was formed.

Ten thousand scientists and engineers have pooled their knowledge and the nations have provided the finance. The UK has provided £500m to date. After 20 years of work, a large particle accelerator has been created in a 17-mile circular tunnel beneath the Swiss Alps, and the experiment took place this week.

It was anticipated that the very basis of matter, the so-called ‘God particle’, would be revealed. But scientists admitted that they did not know what would emerge. There were large speculative areas such as dark matter, dark energy and an alarming black hole which could have consumed the planet.

Of course it is hoped that benefits will emerge – perhaps the possibility of a new energy source or the answer to interstellar travel. The expansion of knowledge could solve many of the problems of the world.

There have been spin-offs from the work so far, such as the energy amplifier mentioned by Robert Kisch (JEP, 29 August), but this is likely to be a most expensive process.

The construction and maintenance of nuclear power stations is very expensive. Since they deteriorate and become unsafe, their decommissioning is even more expensive. UK taxpayers will be expected to find £83bn to decommission existing nuclear power stations.

Meanwhile, significant progress is being made in energy collection from natural sources which are free, clean and inexhaustible.
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