The PACER project is described in this question: How much of the energy from 1 m

Question

The PACER project is described in this question: How much of the energy from 1 megaton H Bomb explosion could we capture to do useful work?

Why was it abandoned? It seems that it is the only readily economical and engineeringwise useful path to fusion power, and it seems that its breeder possibilities can easily let it pay for itself for generating fissile elements and helium (which is getting to be rare too nowadays!)

Was it political or technical limitations that killed it? Is there hope for a renewed interest in this in todays energy conscious politics?

Explanation / Answer

It seems, the main reason is politics. The movement towards prohibition of nuclear tests just started. Facility of this kind is an ideal polygon for nuclear tests. Few hundred explosions per year plus mass production would result in few orders of magnitude cheaper and more effective weapons automatically. That time it was not a good idea to boost development of nuclear weapons that much. It was still too complicated for average countries and everyone wanted to postpone the time when these average countries get an access to nuclear weapons.

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