Posted on 10/15/2014 7:38:31 PM PDT by jyro
Hidden away in the secret depths of the Skunk Works, a Lockheed Martin research team has been working quietly on a nuclear energy concept they believe has the potential to meet, if not eventually decrease, the world’s insatiable demand for power.
Dubbed the compact fusion reactor (CFR), the device is conceptually safer, cleaner and more powerful than much larger, current nuclear systems that rely on fission, the process of splitting atoms to release energy. Crucially, by being “compact,” Lockheed believes its scalable concept will also be small and practical enough for applications ranging from interplanetary spacecraft and commercial ships to city power stations. It may even revive the concept of large, nuclear-powered aircraft that virtually never require refueling—ideas of which were largely abandoned more than 50 years ago because of the dangers and complexities involved with nuclear fission reactors.
I never ever heard of "Skunk Works" until a friend of mine told me to check them out.
Being highly financed and unfettered in terms of being allowed to think out of the box, they've come up with some pretty amazing stuff.........the A-12 Blackbird being one of them.
Latest entrant in the fusion sweepstakes: Lockheed Martin - February 15th, 2013
You have to ask? It is because the cost per watt-hour is still higher than gasoline or coal.
There is no simple “X is better than Y” when it comes to engineering. Everything is a tradeoff. If you want a car that cost 50 times what a normal one does, is heavier, but never needs to be refueled for the next 50 years, then nuclear is the way to go. But no one wants a car like that. Plus there is the whole issue of what happens if you crash.
It is all about cost ratios and tradeoffs. Years ago I picked the brain of a guy at Lockheed who worked on the design of nuclear airplanes. The reason we never build them came down to cost. The only way they were better is in ‘range without refueling’ and the only way you got to the point that nuclear was more cost effective than jet fuel was if you flew around the world. More than once. Who the heck is going to fly that far? Where would they be going?
With 1960s tech you could build an RTG that would power your house for decades. But you could take that same device, pack it with ammonium nitrate, and give cancer to half a city with a terror attack. Suddenly the idea of just continuing to pay your power bill starts looking really good.
It is when they are closer to having a commercial product—and are moving beyond the basic research stage, when the government funding dries up—that you begin to see these press releases.
...
What research? They haven’t published a single scientific paper. And how can they be close to a commercial product when they haven’t built a prototype, and they are citing the favorite time frame for scammers, 10 years, to have a commercial product? But when you’re a big government contractor looking to bilk taxpayers I suppose it isn’t a scam, it’s business as usual.
why would they publish scientific paper ahead of a patent application, wouldn’t they want to keep a tight lid on things?
Cost? Training?
Many companies keep a tight lid on their inventions, for fear that the invention will be stolen before they can profit from it. They'll often wait to publish until they can protect their intellectual property, and even then, they will not publish key details of their discovery.
Seeing that this is Lockheed Martin, a reliable established corporation with a long history, and not some Italian with a degree-mill diploma in the philosophy of science who has no lab or obvious source of funding, I think that this is a legitimate deal. I mean, I don't think they are running a scam. The technology, OTOH, may or may not have merit.
You can thank Jane Fonda, and "The China Syndrome" for that. The left has opposed nuclear power since the first bomb was dropped. It would be entirely feasible for nuclear sub sized reactors on locomotives, power plants, and things like that. It's the politics that have stopped it.
More people were killed in the front seat of Ted Kennedy's Oldsmobile than in all of the US nuclear power plant accidents in the history of nuclear power.
I hear ya, but this isn't some unknown start-up making this claim. These guys are home to the world famous Skunk Works, who built the SR-71 and the F-117 Blackbird (and lord only knows what else).
Their many innovations have powered our military's technical advantage for 70 years or more.
I feel your skepticism, but I don't take such a statement from folks with that kind of credibility lightly.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.