Posted on 10/15/2014 10:50:41 AM PDT by apillar
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp said on Wednesday it had made a technological breakthrough in developing a power source based on nuclear fusion, and the first reactors, small enough to fit on the back of a truck, could be ready for use in a decade.
Initial work demonstrated the feasibility of building a 100-megawatt reactor measuring seven feet by 10 feet, which could fit on the back of a large truck, and is about 10 times smaller than current reactors, McGuire told reporters.
In a statement, the company, the Pentagon's largest supplier, said it would build and test a compact fusion reactor in less than a year, and build a prototype in five years.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
tin Lead foil hat
Uranium Foil Hat......................
> “WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp said on Wednesday it had made a technological breakthrough in developing a power source based on nuclear fusion, and the first reactors, small enough to fit on the back of a truck, could be ready for use in a decade.”
Interpretation: we need grants for 10 years to fund our research. Hand over the dough...
I put more trust in Lockheed skunkworks. The operating principle they are touting is transparent.
Re: “Hearing this for 50 years.”
Yes, I have, too.
Fusion R&D, just in America, is well over $50 billion for that period.
No question that some interesting technologies have been developed and interesting discoveries made for that money.
But, in energy terms, I can’t help but wonder if that money would have been more wisely spent on solar, fuel cells, hydrogen vehicles, and hydrogen production.
Kevmo. Deservedly zotted. Long overdue.
Exactly. As with cold fusion, wake us when you actually have something with a net output of energy.
All the hate America groups will be gearing up to find a way to put a stop to this. Can’t have anything nuclear you know.
U238 + n => U239 => Np239 + ß => Pu239 + ß
Talk about making your head explode.
Don't you mean "nucular"?
The Lockheed press release doesn’t contain the word “breakthrough.” That apparently was added later by the media. So the overwhelming probability is that it doesn’t really work yet, there has been no breakthrough, and Lockheed scientists continue to work on the high beta fusion reactor technology.
Well...there is one that is relatively close to us...most call it The Sun. But it's a lot bigger than 100 times the size of a pickup truck.
The press release doesn’t say it will be a net energy producer, just that it will be physically smaller than existing designs.
There are existing fusion reactors, but from what I understand, they require more energy to operate than they produce. I assume the LM reactor will have the same problem.
No worries....
Here’s your list of opponents who will get it squashed:
1-Your Population Control crowd who are deathly afraid of providing cheap energy to the third world.
2-”NUCLEAR?!?!?!....IT’s A BOMB!!!” (facts don’t matter)
3-”America doesn’t deserve cheap energy, they’ll just use it to oppress the rest of the world and further the imbalance of riches.”
4-EPA-”Where’s your emergency evacuation plan in case this blows up?!!?” (”we have an empire to expand here, ya know”)
Can't use that one - it's been implicated in Global Warming.
I don’t see any mention of them actually building a lab counter sized scaled down version. If they did, then other companies / universities would be scrambling to build their own.
Sounds like an interesting concept, but they will run into many limiting factors on the scale up, anyone of which could mean decades delay.
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