Big news?

Posted on October 16, 2014 by KG

It sure looks that way!
‘Lockheed Martin unveils miniature nuclear fusion power generator’

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19 Responses to Big news?

  1. mawm says:
    October 16, 2014 at 17:37

    http://falfn.com/CrusaderRabbit/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_yahoo.gif No bulky solar panels. No humming wind generators. No stinky, noisy Honda petrol generators. Just a little nuclear reactor to power the desalinator and lights and you are good to go. That’ll keep you off the grid for a while.

    • KG says:
      October 16, 2014 at 17:42

      Yes indeed! In the article see some “energy consultant” thinks it won’t be competitive with renewables, but since he almost certainly makes his living pushing that barrow, his comments are worthless.
      I don’t imagine Lockheed have invested all that time and money into the project because they think tankers and trains etc will be powered by solar panels in the forseeable future.

  2. Oswald Bastable says:
    October 16, 2014 at 18:09

    REAL news!

  3. Mark Hubbard says:
    October 16, 2014 at 18:32

    If they can bring it in under $1,000 for a home unit, I’ll buy one. http://falfn.com/CrusaderRabbit/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_good.gif

  4. Ronbo says:
    October 16, 2014 at 22:49

    Heh, Heh, HEH :!: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

    You gotta love capitalism – the socialists say, “The world is running out of oil, WE MUST GO GREEN ENERGY!” Then the capitalists figure out a cost effective way of getting shale oil to flow, and seemingly overnight the United States and Canada become the world’s new Saudi Arabia and OPEC’s power to set oil prices is broken.

    The socialists say, “There will never be commercial fusion power reactors.” Then a certain company invents small fusion powered reactors that sell for $1,000. :mrgreen:

    The socialists say, “The West World needs third world immigrants to do the low wage, dirty and dangerous jobs the natives won’t do. Then some wise guy invents robots that do the dirty and dangerous work 24/7 without demanding pay, union membership, citizenship, free education and welfare programs. :mrgreen:

    ….and finally the socialists say one more stupid thing too many and the capitalists shoot them all using 3 D guns downloaded from the Internet.http://falfn.com/CrusaderRabbit/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_yahoo.gif

    • k2 says:
      October 17, 2014 at 03:29

      Personally, I’d love to see some guy in his garage come up with a usable fusion solution. But Lockmart is not some small capitalist company. Due to it’s defense contracts, it is locked solidly in bed with the US government bureaucracy and is constantly trolling for government research and development funding. They will dance with whatever the latest politician money laundering scheme might be. This “breakthrough” is most likely a rehash of previous failed fusion small machine attempts now being government funded as a payoff for local politicians and using “Global Warming” as the excuse to do so.

      You’ll know when someone finally gets fusion right when you read the words “proven to exceed breakeven” as documented and published results. Otherwise it’s most likely smoke, mirrors and corruption.

      = Solyndra

  5. Darin says:
    October 16, 2014 at 23:04

    More evidence that humankind is balanced on a razor’s edge.On one side a new golden age of man.On the other a thousand years of darkness and death.

    • Ronbo says:
      October 17, 2014 at 01:49

      Good point, Darin :!:

      The poet would say mankind is a “Fiddler On The Roof” who can easily lose his balance and break his neck. :shock: Yes, this tiny planet of ours is not a very comfortable arrangement and can kill us at any second in a number of very nasty ways. Nevertheless, we sit on our roofs and play our tunes under the starry sky pretending that we live forever and we know this wisdom:

      “What nature doesn’t do to us, will be done by our fellow man.. http://falfn.com/CrusaderRabbit/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_wacko.gif

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp6dsKleGpU

  6. Robertv says:
    October 17, 2014 at 02:42

    “We put it in a magnetic bottle that can contain the high temperatures you need hundreds of millions of degrees” http://falfn.com/CrusaderRabbit/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_unsure.gif
    You can call me skeptic if you wish.http://falfn.com/CrusaderRabbit/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_scratch.gif

    There is no nuclear fusion in the core of the sun. The sun is heated from the outside in and not from the inside out. The corona is the hottest part of the sun heating the surface.

    There is no nuclear fusion in the core of the sun. The sun is heated from the outside in and not from the inside out. The corona is the hottest part of the sun (1,000,000–2,000,000 K; however, in the hottest regions it is 8,000,000–20,000,000 K) heating the surface (approximately 5,800 K)..

    http://falfn.com/CrusaderRabbit/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_cool.gif

    • k2 says:
      October 17, 2014 at 03:15

      Solar fusion is due to high temp combined with gravitational (inertial) confinement. The inertial part is how an H bomb produces fusion, X rays from the fission bomb are directed to confine the fusion elements while heating them in the microsecond before the device disassembles.

      The problem with trying to make fusion a usable source of energy is you can’t get that kind of confinement and temperature for fusion using a magnetic field. There’s a long history and longer list of optimistic well funded attempts which have failed because the plasma is like a greased pig when it comes to using a magnetic bottle to hold it. I am personally skeptical of this latest “breakthrough”.

  7. Darin says:
    October 17, 2014 at 10:52

    Thorium is where it’s at,good presentation,long(2:00:00+)but good-

    http://youtu.be/YVSmf_qmkbg?t=17m

  8. Mathew says:
    October 18, 2014 at 06:52

    If it really works, is cheap and efficient you can guarantee the left will hate it and will wage a war on this technology. If it was expensive, stupid and a waste of trillions, they’d be all for it screaming that everyone else is anti-science.

  9. tranquil says:
    October 18, 2014 at 06:55

    I *really* hope this is true!

    I’d love them to be able to shrink this down to about the size of a drinks fridge. That’d be perfect for domestic use.