ABSTRACT
Although technical, political, organizational, and financial problems have plagued joint research efforts in the past, the current atmosphere of reform in the Soviet Union makes the potential for cooperation particularly promising. The opportunities for cooperation in joint economic ventures also exist in science and technology. During the 1970s, the US and Soviet governments conducted over two hundred official scientific and technological cooperative programs in such fields as microbial enzyme reactions and electroslag technology. A magnetohydrodynamics power plant generates electricity by sending a plasma perpendicularly into an intense magnetic field. Fuel, such as natural gas, oil, or coal, is burned in a combuster and seeded to produce an ionized gas. Perhaps the most important factor in convincing the Soviets of the efficacy of their fusion and magnetohydrodynamics programs is an economic one, the energy situation in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union is strongly committed to nuclear power for geographical and fuel-cycle reasons.
