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| | Lockheed has a fusion reactor that may produce cheap electricity and be good for the environment | |
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Eric
Posts : 9738 Join date : 2012-07-30 Age : 73 Location : Pensacola
| Subject: Lockheed has a fusion reactor that may produce cheap electricity and be good for the environment Thu Oct 16, 2014 12:57 pm | |
| From NewsDaily LINK - Quote :
- 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.
Tom McGuire, who heads the project, said he and a small team had been working on fusion energy at Lockheed’s secretive Skunk Works for about four years, but were now going public to find potential partners in industry and government for their work. 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.
In recent years, Lockheed has gotten increasingly involved in a variety of alternate energy projects, including several ocean energy projects, as it looks to offset a decline in U.S. and European military spending.
Lockheed’s work on fusion energy could help in developing new power sources amid increasing global conflicts over energy, and as projections show there will be a 40 percent to 50 percent increase in energy use over the next generation, McGuire said.
If it proves feasible, Lockheed’s work would mark a key breakthrough in a field that scientists have long eyed as promising, but which has not yet yielded viable power systems. The effort seeks to harness the energy released during nuclear fusion, when atoms combine into more stable forms.
“We can make a big difference on the energy front,” McGuire said, noting Lockheed’s 60 years of research on nuclear fusion as a potential energy source that is safer and more efficient than current reactors based on nuclear fission.
Lockheed sees the project as part of a comprehensive approach to solving global energy and climate change problems.
Compact nuclear fusion would produce far less waste than coal-powered plants since it would use deuterium-tritium fuel, which can generate nearly 10 million times more energy than the same amount of fossil fuels, the company said.
Ultra-dense deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, is found in the earth’s oceans, and tritium is made from natural lithium deposits. It said future reactors could use a different fuel and eliminate radioactive waste completely.
McGuire said the company had several patents pending for the work and was looking for partners in academia, industry and among government laboratories to advance the work.
Lockheed said it had shown it could complete a design, build and test it in as little as a year, which should produce an operational reactor in 10 years, McGuire said. A small reactor could power a U.S. Navy warship, and eliminate the need for other fuel sources that pose logistical challenges.
U.S. submarines and aircraft carriers run on nuclear power, but they have large fission reactors on board that have to be replaced on a regular cycle.
“What makes our project really interesting and feasible is that timeline as a potential solution,” McGuire said.
Lockheed shares fell 0.6 percent to $175.02 amid a broad market selloff.
Read more at http://newsdaily.com/2014/10/lockheed-says-makes-breakthrough-on-fusion-energy-project/#Tjvfo31iTRlXEJ9R.99 | |
| | | PkrBum
Posts : 1017 Join date : 2013-02-14 Location : 45th Parallel
| Subject: Re: Lockheed has a fusion reactor that may produce cheap electricity and be good for the environment Thu Oct 16, 2014 6:51 pm | |
| I love this technology. I remember the theories from high school and college. It's truly the power of the sun. | |
| | | Guest Guest
| Subject: Re: Lockheed has a fusion reactor that may produce cheap electricity and be good for the environment Mon Oct 20, 2014 7:40 pm | |
| How hard would it be to take this technology and create a mini nuke bomb? |
| | | riceme
Posts : 3098 Join date : 2012-12-02 Age : 52 Location : Fox, Alaska
| Subject: Re: Lockheed has a fusion reactor that may produce cheap electricity and be good for the environment Mon Oct 20, 2014 9:51 pm | |
| - Chrissy wrote:
- How hard would it be to take this technology and create a mini nuke bomb?
I don't think that is really in the cards. I'm no expert but nuclear fusion is much safer than fission. Fusion is putting together and fission is breaking apart. I'm really glad you posted this, Eric. I just read this last week and was discussing it with my friend Joe... this and the space vehicle that landed at Vandenberg. | |
| | | Eric
Posts : 9738 Join date : 2012-07-30 Age : 73 Location : Pensacola
| Subject: Re: Lockheed has a fusion reactor that may produce cheap electricity and be good for the environment Tue Oct 21, 2014 9:37 am | |
| - Chrissy wrote:
- How hard would it be to take this technology and create a mini nuke bomb?
The "fission" nuclear reactors currently in use produce by-products that can be used to produce atomic bombs. Fusion reactors won't produce materials for atomic weapons unless modified and dedicated to produce bomb materials. However, if modified, they should be efficient at making bomb materials. Radioactive wastes from current fission plants will last for thousands of years. Radioactive wastes from fusion reactors will have higher radiation, but only last for a century or so... from what I read today. No, I don't think we'd have any mini fusion bombs from these reactors. As much as these things are going to cost, I suspect that security will be tight... just as tight as around current nuke plants. And I have no idea if they could even be made into a bomb. As far as bombs go, the fission bombs... atomic bombs, like dropped on Hiroshima, are much less powerful than the fusion bombs... hydrogen bombs. | |
| | | riceme
Posts : 3098 Join date : 2012-12-02 Age : 52 Location : Fox, Alaska
| Subject: Re: Lockheed has a fusion reactor that may produce cheap electricity and be good for the environment Tue Oct 21, 2014 11:36 am | |
| A hydrogen bomb's destructive power comes from uranium fission, so like I said above, my understanding is that independently, fusion is pretty harmless. | |
| | | Eric
Posts : 9738 Join date : 2012-07-30 Age : 73 Location : Pensacola
| Subject: Re: Lockheed has a fusion reactor that may produce cheap electricity and be good for the environment Tue Oct 21, 2014 12:38 pm | |
| - riceme wrote:
- A hydrogen bomb's destructive power comes from uranium fission, so like I said above, my understanding is that independently, fusion is pretty harmless.
It is fusion, according to these sources... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermonuclear_weapon http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/hydrogen-bomb.html http://science.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-bomb6.htm http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/591670/thermonuclear-bomb http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-a-hydrogen-bomb.htm | |
| | | Guest Guest
| Subject: Re: Lockheed has a fusion reactor that may produce cheap electricity and be good for the environment Tue Oct 21, 2014 6:23 pm | |
| - Eric wrote:
- Chrissy wrote:
- How hard would it be to take this technology and create a mini nuke bomb?
The "fission" nuclear reactors currently in use produce by-products that can be used to produce atomic bombs.
Fusion reactors won't produce materials for atomic weapons unless modified and dedicated to produce bomb materials. However, if modified, they should be efficient at making bomb materials.
Radioactive wastes from current fission plants will last for thousands of years. Radioactive wastes from fusion reactors will have higher radiation, but only last for a century or so... from what I read today.
No, I don't think we'd have any mini fusion bombs from these reactors. As much as these things are going to cost, I suspect that security will be tight... just as tight as around current nuke plants. And I have no idea if they could even be made into a bomb.
As far as bombs go, the fission bombs... atomic bombs, like dropped on Hiroshima, are much less powerful than the fusion bombs... hydrogen bombs.
yeah, I don't think they are going to be using these in chevy's anytime soon, if ever. I looked up the fuel and it seems like perhaps they came up with a way to get around the treaty of using hydrogen bombs as fuel. >>> >>The surest way of building a fusion rocket with current technology is to use hydrogen bombs as proposed in Project Orion, but such a spacecraft would also be massive and the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty prohibits the use of nuclear bombs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_rocket I say that because > the initial reaction in the chain, in which two protons are fused to make a “ heavy hydrogen” (deuterium)
http://www.geo.cornell.edu/eas/energy/research_front_page/nuclear_fusion.html So I suspect as I initially did, these things are extremely dangerous. But so is nuclear power plants. So as long as they do not make this technology casual consumption for anyone I suppose its a great breakthrough considering the waste reduction. |
| | | Eric
Posts : 9738 Join date : 2012-07-30 Age : 73 Location : Pensacola
| Subject: Re: Lockheed has a fusion reactor that may produce cheap electricity and be good for the environment Tue Oct 21, 2014 6:49 pm | |
| So, if the bomb goes off, drink beer! It rids the body of tritium.
http://io9.com/drinking-a-beer-can-save-you-from-radiation-poisoning-1648955835 | |
| | | Guest Guest
| Subject: Re: Lockheed has a fusion reactor that may produce cheap electricity and be good for the environment Tue Oct 21, 2014 7:41 pm | |
| - Eric wrote:
- So, if the bomb goes off, drink beer! It rids the body of tritium.
http://io9.com/drinking-a-beer-can-save-you-from-radiation-poisoning-1648955835 Oh Holy hell. Jack pot! I have been looking for a reason to add beer to my emergency supplies. Thank you.... thank you.... thank you.... LOL |
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