Nuclear Fusion?

[Rorschach]

Lockheed announces breakthrough on nuclear fusion energy
100MW reactor small enough to fit on back of a truck
Cleaner energy source could be in use within 10 years
theguardian.com, Thursday 16 October 2014 02.57 AEST

Lockheed Martin Corp said on Wednesday it had made a technological breakthrough in developing a power source based on nuclear fusion, and the first reactors, small enough to fit on the back of a truck, could be ready for use in a decade.

Tom McGuire, who heads the project, said he and a small team had been working on fusion energy at Lockheed’s secretive Skunk Works for about four years, but were now going public to find potential partners in industry and government for their work.

Initial work demonstrated the feasibility of building a 100-megawatt reactor measuring seven feet by 10 feet, which could fit on the back of a large truck, and is about 10 times smaller than current reactors, McGuire told reporters.

In a statement, the company, the Pentagon’s largest supplier, said it would build and test a compact fusion reactor in less than a year, and build a prototype in five years.

In recent years, Lockheed has become increasingly involved in a variety of alternate energy projects, including several ocean energy projects, as it looks to offset a decline in US and European military spending.

Lockheed’s work on fusion energy could help in developing new power sources amid increasing global conflicts over energy, and as projections show there will be a 40% to 50% increase in energy use over the next generation, McGuire said.

If it proves feasible, Lockheed’s work would mark a key breakthrough in a field that scientists have long eyed as promising, but which has not yet yielded viable power systems. The effort seeks to harness the energy released during nuclear fusion, when atoms combine into more stable forms.

“We can make a big difference on the energy front,” McGuire said, noting Lockheed’s 60 years of research on nuclear fusion as a potential energy source that is safer and more efficient than current reactors based on nuclear fission. Lockheed sees the project as part of a comprehensive approach to solving global energy and climate change problems.

Compact nuclear fusion would produce far less waste than coal-powered plants since it would use deuterium-tritium fuel, which can generate nearly 10 million times more energy than the same amount of fossil fuels, the company said.

Ultra-dense deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, is found in the earth’s oceans, and tritium is made from natural lithium deposits. It said future reactors could use a different fuel and eliminate radioactive waste completely.

McGuire said the company had several patents pending for the work and was looking for partners in academia, industry and among government laboratories to advance the work.

Lockheed said it had shown it could complete a design, build and test it in as little as a year, which should produce an operational reactor in 10 years, McGuire said. A small reactor could power a US navy warship, and eliminate the need for other fuel sources that pose logistical challenges.

US submarines and aircraft carriers run on nuclear power, but they have large fission reactors on board that have to be replaced on a regular cycle.

“What makes our project really interesting and feasible is that timeline as a potential solution,” McGuire said.

Lockheed shares fell 0.6% to $175.02 amid a broad market selloff.

[Rorschach]

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ ... ear-fusion

[mantra]

They've been making breakthroughs for years on this. It's still nowhere near viable, nor can they pinpoint any time in the future when it will be. It's still all if's and maybe's.

[Super Nova]

Good stuff. If they can do this in 10 years then in a hundred we will have local reactors everywhere. The whole balance of power generation and distribution may change. Watch out for the big power supply companies preventing this technology.

Stick a small one in your car and we are off and running.

[Rorschach]

First reminded me of...

[Neferti]

I'm still waiting for the ROBOT that will automatically clean and cook for me by the Year 1995? Or whenever it was.

DREAM ON.

Engineers and Others of high intelligence, still seem to sit around in smokey bars and the like and wonder HOW the Egyptians built the Pyramids.

It must have been some smarter people from Outer Space. BULLSHIT!

We, as a people, MAY have more access to education, but that does not mean that those Egyptians, 3000 years ago were less intelligent. They just used their knowledge and instincts more appropriately, perhaps?

[Super Nova]

I'm still waiting for the ROBOT that will automatically clean and cook for me by the Year 1995? Or whenever it was.

DREAM ON.

Engineers and Others of high intelligence, still seem to sit around in smokey bars and the like and wonder HOW the Egyptians built the Pyramids.

It must have been some smarter people from Outer Space. BULLSHIT!

We, as a people, MAY have more access to education, but that does not mean that those Egyptians, 3000 years ago were less intelligent. They just used their knowledge and instincts more appropriately, perhaps?

The Egyptians built on and added to the knowledge they had accumulated. That is what we do today.

All of our inventions today are built on the shoulders of the giants from before.

As for the robot... it will be another 50 years but it will come.... then..... we make it self replicate... give it purpose.... give it intelligence and reasoning....allow it to adapt, change, mutate..... then we are redundant.... a new life-force is created.

[boxy]

Yeah, right.

They built huge mounds of stone to bury people in. What a fucking huge waste of time, effort and lives that was.

Jerks

[Neferti]

Yeah, right.

They built huge mounds of stone to bury people in. What a fucking huge waste of time, effort and lives that was.

Jerks

The Yanks, with all their technology and a Red Phone to God, still can't work it out. It has to be ALIENS. Another Planet, UFOs .........

[Super Nova]

I'm still waiting for the ROBOT that will automatically clean and cook for me by the Year 1995? Or whenever it was.

DREAM ON.

Here you go. Coming soon.

Lonely old age? Not with a caring robot

The British think they will “turn evil” and steal everybody’s jobs. The Japanese and Americans cannot wait to be pampered by them.

Robots could be caring for the country’s elderly within 20 years, but only if the British shake off their mistrust of intelligent technology, the world’s leading robotics developer has said.

A future where humanoid robots provide companionship for the elderly and help with everyday chores is being created in the engineering laboratories of Japan to help to combat the growing problem of ageing populations in developed countries.

The vision is welcomed with open arms in the Far East and USA but robot developers at Honda say Europeans, and especially the British, are far more wary.

“A lot of people use the word creepy but in the US and Japan they don’t,” Vikki Hood, from Honda Robotics, said. “Europe is much more reticent. Children love it and approach it as if you had showed them a unicorn. They just accept it. Adults tend to think it is a bit creepy.

“People are worried that it will turn evil and steal their job — that tends to be a very British reaction.”

Honda is the world leader in humanoid robotics and its most advanced creation, Asimo — which stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility — took its first steps on UK soil yesterday.

Asimo is the first robot able to make decisions for itself on how to carry out increasingly complex tasks. Using an array of sensors, it detects different densities to ensure that it doesn’t crush a champagne flute in its hands or smash your best china when laying the table.

In a display at the Wired Conference in London, it won over the audience with its dodgy dad dancing, waiter services and football skills — this is the robot that shared a kickabout with President Obama when he visited Japan in April.

Miss Hood said that developers hoped to see the next generation of Asimo robots in the homes of elderly people within 30 years. “We see Asimo helping out in the home, relieving the burden and being a companion and partner in the home.”

A battery life of only 30 minutes is one problem holding Asimo back but so, too, could be the attitude of Britons to sharing their home with a robot.

Whether we want them in our homes or not, it looks like we will be seeing a lot more of humanoid robots in the not too distant future.

As Asimo said after wowing the audience in London: “Goodbye everybody, hope to see you soon.”

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/technolog ... 240449.ece