The Nation - News from May 3, 1989

The “Star Wars” missile defense program has selected five sites for consideration for an experimental system for storing huge amounts of electrical energy, the Defense Department said. The sites, in Wisconsin, New Mexico, Texas and Washington, will be studied more closely for their environmental suitability and a final decision will be made sometime next year. The project, known as the Superconductive Magnetic Energy Storage program, or SMES, will involve the construction of coils the size of a football field. The magnetic coils would hold electricity that can be “pumped in” when demand is low, then discharged when needed. The coils would utilize breakthroughs in fashioning materials that can conduct electricity with little or no loss of current. “Star Wars” officials are interested in the idea because of the problem of powering large, ground-based lasers that are being studied as a defense against missiles.