Lockheed

Reflections on fusion history, current events, and predictions for the 'fusion powered future.
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Kreso
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Lockheed

Post by Kreso »

Dear Gentlemen,

It seems Lockheed is looking for investors into their own fusion research?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/8459949298/

Kind Regards,
RobertTubbs
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Re: Lockheed

Post by RobertTubbs »

Fusion is wonderful, it makes great neutron sources.

Neutron sources are wonderful, they drive fission reactors.

Fission reactors are wonderful, they make power.

RT
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Richard Hull
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Re: Lockheed

Post by Richard Hull »

More "feel good" stuff about fusion.

I remember similar talks just like this in , 1956, 1959, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1973, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, and now a fresh new 2013 promise of a wonderful future. How often can you repolish a turd and call it a future diamond?

It is so clean, no meltdown, just on and off, no hassles like fission, and what's more seawater will be the fuel! With fusion's dream, you still have....no power.....unlike fission which has been on the power grid lighting up TV's, electric razors and heating homes since 1957.

Fusion!.......The energy of the future!...........And, it always will be.

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
Jack Puntawong
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Re: Lockheed

Post by Jack Puntawong »

I agree with Richard. When is it going to be:

" Fusion!.......The energy of the PRESENT! "

Fusion has potential to become an unlimited energy source. What we need is not something that has potential but something that is works NOW
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Jim Kovalchick
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Re: Lockheed

Post by Jim Kovalchick »

Jack,
I'm sure many share your sentiment about fusion as an energy source. My challenge to you is for you to realize that if its ever going to happen it will be because people like you put your passion about it into action.
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Chris Bradley
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Re: Lockheed

Post by Chris Bradley »

Jack Puntawong wrote:
> What we need is not something that has potential but something that is works NOW

.... oh dear ...

You sound like an accounts manager, not a physics hobbyist.

We need both, don't we!?!?
Dan Tibbets
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Re: Lockheed

Post by Dan Tibbets »

Actually, we have something that works now, sort of. I think the JET Tokamak demonstrated validity to a large extent. I see no reason why ITER shouldn't get the job done. BUT, the cost and time required makes the system nearly impractical for useful power. Then there are all of the engineering issues such as lithium blankets and diverters.

I think the Skunks Works approach may be a derivative of the Polywell concept. As such it seems interesting (from a Fan Boy perspective) that this large corporation has chose to run with this. It may represent a validation of the concept from a source outside of EMC2.

Dan Tibbets
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Re: Lockheed

Post by Dan Tibbets »

PS: We already use fusion power. It is just that the conversion is complicated. The Sun is the ultimate source of power from photo voltaics, wind, and even fossil fuels.
Exceptions to this would be tidal power (in part) and geothermal power. Geothermal power comes from heat left from gravitational collapse and radioactive decay of unstable isotopes in the Earth's core.

It would be nice to have more intimate control of the fusion source at relatively cheap prices.

Dan Tibbets
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Chris Bradley
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Re: Lockheed

Post by Chris Bradley »

Dan DT wrote:
> PS: We already use fusion power.
Comparing the mechanisms of solar fusion with what could be achieved on earth is like comparing the process of rusting with that of fuel combustion in a space rocket engine - in those cases, both are 'oxidation' reactions, but they differ in fuel-types/reactivity/time-scales by oom.

... You'd hardly say that you are 'rusting too much fuel', or that your old car with poor bodywork on the driveway is 'burning up in the rain', now .... would you?
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Chris Bradley
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Re: Lockheed

Post by Chris Bradley »

Dan DT wrote:
> I think the JET Tokamak demonstrated validity to a large extent. I see no reason why ITER shouldn't get the job done.

... err.. how about the 41GJ of magnetic energy needed to create the necessary magnetic fields - that's equivalent to 82 seconds at the hoped-for 500MW rating - or maybe call it 250 seconds for equivalent converted electrical power, before the magnetic energy alone has been 'paid back'.

Have you seen a tokamak run at its maximum rated power for more than 250 seconds. Not reason enough?
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Richard Hull
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Re: Lockheed

Post by Richard Hull »

The fusion output of the sun impacting earth is indeed converted in the megawatt range and is on the grid in the U.S in a total of gigawatts distributed. Hoover and Grand Coulee dams are but two examples that work a bit better at the watt-hr rate than rusting iron.

Certainly all the bulk of electrical energy in the world today is solely due to the good offices of fusion energy via the Sun. Only geothermal, some tidal and fission energy are not solar specific examples. If one stretches the point, even those sources had some origin in some lost past super nova.

In hydro, the sun's fusion does the heavy lifting but our energy is derived at the generational source through the release of potential energy. 100% of man's electrical energy at its conversion point comes directly from potential energy releases. (gravity) We just pull the trigger of a preloaded gun and out flies the electrical bullet. We are good hunter-gatherers.

Sun specific, it serves us well as a fusion energy source, but almost entirely by hydro-electric, coal, natural gas and oil with the whimpy wind and solar collectors far, far behind.

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
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