Article

2014-10-16 Science & Technology

AV Week: Skunk Works Reveals Compact Fusion Reactor Details

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Posted by 3dc 2014-10-16 06:45|| || Front Page|| [5 views ] Top

Posted by 3dc 2014-10-16 06:53|| 2014-10-16 06:53|| Front Page Top

#2 Thanks 3dc. My guess is, that fellow will never have to worry about "finding another job."

Posted by Besoeker 2014-10-16 07:28|| 2014-10-16 07:28|| Front Page Top

#3 If, A BIG IF, this pans out to be true, decades from now it will be what everybody remembers and Ebola will be long forgotten. But you won't see this news in the MSM. This is the first fusion promise I recall ever seeing with an expiration date of less than 20 years. Wow.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2014-10-16 07:45|| 2014-10-16 07:45|| Front Page Top

#4 Read the article through; basically, the Lockheed guys have sort of a plan, and are looking for outside ideas to solve problems.

Posted by ed in texas 2014-10-16 08:21|| 2014-10-16 08:21|| Front Page Top

#5 Ed, running it by lots of my physics friends and awaiting their comments in the coming weeks.

Posted by 3dc 2014-10-16 09:01|| 2014-10-16 09:01|| Front Page Top

#6 Which does it have a DiLithium core or Beryllium sphere?

Posted by Skidmark 2014-10-16 09:46|| 2014-10-16 09:46|| Front Page Top

#7 Fusion seems to always be a decade away. But when it does come, it will solve a huge amount of problems.

Posted by OldSpook 2014-10-16 09:46|| 2014-10-16 09:46|| Front Page Top

#8 Massive Changes, headlong into the unknown, just...

Next Anti-Gravity....

Posted by Deadeye Whererong8165 2014-10-16 11:05|| 2014-10-16 11:05|| Front Page Top

#9 But fusion means nuclear, right? And nuclear is bad. So we should shut down this research right now!

/sarcasm. yes, I know the difference between fission and fusion.

Posted by Rambler in Virginia 2014-10-16 15:12|| 2014-10-16 15:12|| Front Page Top

#10 Which does it have a DiLithium core or Beryllium sphere?

The sieracluub will say unobtainium.

Posted by swksvolFF 2014-10-16 16:41|| 2014-10-16 16:41|| Front Page Top

#11 And the EPA will call it Administratium

Posted by CrazyFool 2014-10-16 17:18|| 2014-10-16 17:18|| Front Page Top

#12 Test

Posted by KBK 2014-10-16 18:26|| 2014-10-16 18:26|| Front Page Top

#13 Dude, theEPA will try to kill it with fire. This dooms them to irrelevance.

Posted by Silentbrick 2014-10-16 18:27|| 2014-10-16 18:27|| Front Page Top

#14 I've been trying to post this, but can't get it by the filters! Trying first graf:

McGuire may be a wizard MIT engineer, but he's also an accomplished snake oil specialist. The video has very high production values (and a damsel for window dressing), but is essentially content free.

Posted by KBK 2014-10-16 18:31|| 2014-10-16 18:31|| Front Page Top

#15 For people familiar with hot fusion, the article is also thin on information. It appears the main development is to turn the magnetic design inside out compared to a Tokomak, with perhaps an extra containing field generated by coils outside the reaction chamber. If I understand correctly, they are also using end mirrors, which have not worked well in the past and have been pretty much abandoned in favor of toroids.

Posted by KBK 2014-10-16 18:32|| 2014-10-16 18:32|| Front Page Top

#16 A hundred times smaller refers apparently to the reaction volume, so that would be around five times smaller in scale. That would be a big advance, since combined with the skunk works organization (as opposed to ITER bureaucracy) it allows a much shorter prototype cycle.

Posted by KBK 2014-10-16 18:33|| 2014-10-16 18:33|| Front Page Top

#17 A little more at Wikipedia. Stay tuned.

Posted by KBK 2014-10-16 18:33|| 2014-10-16 18:33|| Front Page Top

#18 Well, it posted in paragraphs, so I have no idea what the problem was. Time for another scotch.

Posted by KBK 2014-10-16 18:34|| 2014-10-16 18:34|| Front Page Top

#19 Maybe there's a (rather short) comment length restriction?

Posted by KBK 2014-10-16 18:36|| 2014-10-16 18:36|| Front Page Top

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