[ExI] Lockheed skunkworks announcement about fusion

[spike]

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf
Of BillK
...

>...The plan is to reach a high-beta ratio. Plans call for a compact 100 MW
machine. In October 2014, Reuters reported that Lockheed Martin "would build
and test a compact fusion reactor in less than a year, and build a prototype
in five years." The company hopes to be able to meet global baseload energy
demand by 2050. Here are some other characteristics of this machine:

>...The magnetic field increases the farther out that the plasma goes, which
pushes the plasma back in.
It also has very few open field lines (very few paths for the plasma to leak
out; uses a cylinder, not a Tokamak ring).
Very good arch curvature of the field lines.
The system has a beta of about 1.
This system uses deuterium and tritium.
The system heats the plasma using radio waves.

>...The machine was designed by Dr. Thomas McGuire who did his PhD thesis on
fusors at MIT. Chase said that "the fuel (two isotopes of hydrogen) has six
orders [1.000.000] of magnitude higher energy density than oil. You can't
make a bomb from it, and it has no meltdown risk. It's very different from
nuclear fission reactors.
------------- BillK
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Hmmm, did he mean 100 MW for one second, then an hour to soak up and convert
that resultant heat?  Is he suggesting some form of direct charging of
capacitors using an electromagnetic pulse?  I just don't see it BillK.

It occurred to me why it might be tempting to believe this, since nuclear
aircraft carriers have compact power plants on this order.  But they also
have a convenient heat sink right there: they dump the waste heat directly
into the sea.

spike