Lockheed says makes breakthrough on fusion energy project
 

Lockheed says makes breakthrough on fusion energy project



(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.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...0I41EM20141015

off-topic, but will never happen ( in terms of it being applied to cars etc)

the government and oil folks make way to much money to let something like this ever become feasible / common place.

Please, don't.

Just don't.

:facepalm:

lol

If it doesn't happen it will be because the technology is unstable or unfeasible for whatever reason...not because of some conspiracy theory.

LMAO

If, or when it happens, the middle east can pretty much go **** themselves. They live in a freaking desert that is only good for one thing, and that is oil. If the need for mass amounts of oil goes away, they are ****ed. Can't wait.

The Russian tokamak fusion reactor design has always been overkill and the use of high power lazers ditto. My understanding is that someone has done the mathematical dirty work to come up with a magnetic containment field, not as static as tokamak, that is on the same magnitude of strength as the ions fused. Not the overkill that is found in other systems.

I do think there is a oversell of the promise of fusion to meet all of energy needs because the fuel, deuterium and tritium, are not as abundant as a fuel source as is made out since they are highly dispersed. And even Lithium as a source for tritium is limited. You could churned up the entire surface of the moon but would only get enough Lithium isotope needed for maybe 300 years of present energy use.

But in line with other dispersed energy sources like solar, wind, tide, geothermal, geoexchange and water generating you can decrease the adverse effects climate change. Note the arm services and apparently Lockheed understand the science.

If they have shown a net gain, awesome. If they haven't, meh.

With a massive shift toward electric vehicles, yes, this is accurate.

Too bad they can't to it the old fashioned way H -> He

Talk about a win.

Electric Boat and the rest of the Navy has to be salivating over this.

Wasn't this news like a month ago? There's some interesting competing technologies in development showing some promise as well.

The future of big nuclear is here. Invest now.