Lockheed Martin Pursuing Compact Nuclear Fusion Reactor Concept

PALMDALE, Calif., Oct. 15, 2014 – The Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] Skunk Works® team is working on a new compact fusion reactor (CFR) that can be developed and deployed in as little as ten years. Currently, there are several patents pending that cover their approach.

While fusion itself is not new, the Skunk Works has built on more than 60 years of fusion research and investment to develop an approach that offers a significant reduction in size compared to mainstream efforts.

“Our compact fusion concept combines several alternative magnetic confinement approaches, taking the best parts of each, and offers a 90 percent size reduction over previous concepts,” said Tom McGuire, compact fusion lead for the Skunk Works’ Revolutionary Technology Programs. “The smaller size will allow us to design, build and test the CFR in less than a year.”

After completing several of these design-build-test cycles, the team anticipates being able to produce a prototype in five years. As they gain confidence and progress technically with each experiment, they will also be searching for partners to help further the technology.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 113,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation’s net sales for 2013 were $45.4 billion.

This video explains the compact fusion reactor concept and the impacts it could have on the world.

The Lockheed Martin/Skunk Works project is not working in isolation. There are now about 6 US based small fusion company projects and about 40 college and institutional fusion programs around the USA — not counting the big fusion programs.

In fourth generation modular fission reactors the most interesting work is being done by 4-6 small msr & lftr companies.

All these companies promise to be able to cut the cost of electricity by 1/4-1/10 th current cheapest cost coal/natural gas/hydro.

This is the real 21st century energy revolution.

The most significant consequences of dirt cheap energy will be that desalination and transport will make it cheap to send desalinized ocean water 1000 miles inland to any desert in the world to grow crops competitively, basically turn the deserts green and double the size of the habitable earth.

The habitable size of the USA will grow by 1/3 and the habitable size of Mexico will triple.

This world changing stuff is what Americans and America do and have done habitually for over 200 years..

The democrats are trying to do world changing energy work with their renewable energy/wind solar/biofuels projects and in ten plus years these energy sources will be as cheap everywhere as the cheapest coal is now.

But renewable energy sources that merely meet today’s energy prices are not what makes for serious energy revolutions —which by definition collapse the price of energy and thereby increase the wealth of nations big time. (As happened when 19th century steam engines replaced water wheels and 20th century electricity and oil replaced 19th century steam engines.)

The republican party as part of its agenda needs to embrace the various nuclear research projects not just to one up the democrats but to do the real work of creating a true 21st century civilization.

You got that right.

“Where do we put the meter?”

Entire continents would be off the shnide for the first time in history. You could do almost anything, almost anywhere. Fresh water would be plentiful, everywhere.

Land wars would be much more uncommon than they are today.

First, there is still no independently verifiable evidence the Rossi ECAT (Energy Catalyzer) actually generates power from the chemical catalytic based and low energy nuclear fusion (LENR-CANR) of Hydrogen and Nickel to produce Copper. Second, even if such a low energy chemical catalytic nuclear fusion reaction did take place, it would still be the low energy and chemical reaction that defines at as A LENR-CANR reaction. Such a low energy reaction is a miniscule fraction of what a high energy reaction obtains from the fusion of Deuterium to produce Helium.

LENR-CANR is attractive if and when it could ever be proven to overcome the Coulomb barrier and produce useful energy at such low costs with safety at low temperatures.

Likewise, if anyone can ever find a low cost means of developing and operating inexpensive true cold fusion reactors (not low energy chemical catalytic reactors) capable of producing energy and Helium from Deuterium, such an invention would be revolutionary in scope of deliverable energy and low cost.

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