1.   But despite decades of research, and many billions of dollars, thermonuclear research conducted without atomic matches has so far produced no fire, only smoke.

2.   Ray E. Kidder, a Livermore physicist who helped pioneer hydrogen bombs, said small-scale thermonuclear research was attractive to weapon scientists in the absence of underground test explosions.

3.   Scientists disagree on the likelihood that thermonuclear research could result in a new generation of hydrogen bombs that work on the principle of pure fusion.

4.   So the outcome of the political war over thermonuclear research is anything but clear.

5.   So critics are denouncing the thermonuclear research as dangerous.