Fuse me Already, I'm tired of Waiting.

Neutron flux is the problem. And Lockheed has decided to give up on cladding against it and goes with absorbing the flux and re-using the heat, to keep the fusion temperatures up.



The Compact Fusion reactor makes use of a magnetic bottle created by superconducting magnets to contain the temperatures that can reach hundreds of millions of degrees. This magnetic bottle can then release some of the heat so that it can be used for power generation. - See more at: http://www.eweek.com/news/lockheed-martin-claims-sustainable-fusion-is-within-its-grasp.html#sthash.Ulz8xSJR.dpuf

Doer said:

Neutron flux is the problem. And Lockheed has decided to give up on cladding against it and goes with absorbing the flux and re-using the heat, to keep the fusion temperatures up.

The Compact Fusion reactor makes use of a magnetic bottle created by superconducting magnets to contain the temperatures that can reach hundreds of millions of degrees. This magnetic bottle can then release some of the heat so that it can be used for power generation. - See more at: http://www.eweek.com/news/lockheed-martin-claims-sustainable-fusion-is-within-its-grasp.html#sthash.Ulz8xSJR.dpuf

Click to expand...

A very interesting article Doer, I have to wonder how the"bottle" would be cooled other than releasing the thermal heat for energy, without a meltdown. Thoughts?

The implications are mind-blowing. Just mind-blowing. Travel to Mars in a month? Ships and aircraft with unlimited range? Not to mention all the other neat stuff we can do with lots of cheap energy. This could change the world. Not like Facebook, either. Imagine indoor pot gardens producing pounds for a few dollars a month. Go, Skunk Works! Let's hear it for Skunk!

When they get it up and running, let me know.

insidagain said:

A very interesting article Doer, I have to wonder how the"bottle" would be cooled other than releasing the thermal heat for energy, without a meltdown. Thoughts?

Click to expand...

The problem is not the heat. It is neutron flux ablation. Seems, there is no cladding that is proof against neutron bombardment at these energies. Bummer. So, just like re-entry from earth orbit, the compromise is to burn off material, ie to ablate it.

Ablation is a waste of everything. And in a Fusion reactor, it the main problem of sustaining fusion at a net return of energy.

And who knows why this was not in the cards before? But I am guessing advances in material science. So, the idea here, and I hope it works, is to have a material that absorbs the neutrons and does not reflect them and screw up the fusion process. And it does not waste away, from the nuetron flux, atomic sandblasting. It absorbs neutrons and just heats up.
Say what? Here is the problem.

You must maintain a deep vacuum. But, in that deep vacuum you are burning the cladding material in neutron fire and ruining your vacuum. You are adding gas material where you can't have it, unlike space re-entry where it doesn't matter.

So, you basically now have a way to keep your generator from burning up inside, and losing the fusion charge. And at the same time, you have a way to drain off the excess heat in a liquid sodium heat exchange loop and do some real work, like generating more energy than the device consumes, and it can run for years.

I don't remember what the material is or if they said, but that is the idea.

Bop wop a loo bop a wop bam FUSION!

I don't care who does it or how. I just want to see it in my lifetime. Talk about a game changer for humanity.

My money is still on the Polywell approach. The fuel they use doesn't produce neutrons.