Fusion Message Board

In this space, visitors are invited to post any comments, questions, or skeptical observations about Philo T. Farnsworth's contributions to the field of Nuclear Fusion research.

Subject: Re: Crunch time for Big Fusion?
Date: Oct 16, 4:43 pm
Poster: Richard Hull

On Oct 16, 4:43 pm, Richard Hull wrote:


>
>>A 2 megawatt fission reactor minus shielding and power takeoff assemblies can be made the size of a large desk. Fusion systems should follow this model.
>
>I thought you would have a heat problem
>with something that small.

Lets hope so!!! That way with liqud sodium or some such heat Xfer material we get a lot of power out.

Such very small assemblies were common in the 50's and 60's in swimming pool research reactors. UVA in Charlottesville 70 miles from me ran a 3MW core in a 5 foot cube using 92% enrichment Bomb Grade U-235 until recently when they freaked out over security issues and were told by the NRC they would have to move to 15% enrichment which would cut the power to zip and require a much larger core to be built. They folded the operation up a few years ago after over 40 productive years.

I used to go on the open house tours in the past there and had a good freind who I would just walk in on as an operator there. I suppose some suicide terrorist group might come in, snatch the core materials "live", drive 4 miles to a concealed location, transfer it to a waiting and shielded truck and then go off somewhere to die horribly, but it is unlikely.

Now only U of Md. is one of the few places nearby left with a swimming pool reactor and it is on shakey ground, but is already using lower enrichment Uranium


Richard Hull