Aviation Week carried a note on Skunkworks Compact Fusion Reactor on
Wednesday.
"Hidden away in the secret depths of the Skunk Works, aLockheed
Martin<http://awin.aviationweek.com/OrganizationProfiles.aspx?orgId=27191>research
team has been working quietly on a nuclear energy concept they believe
has the potential to meet, if not eventually decrease, the world's
insatiable demand for power.
Dubbed the compact fusion reactor (CFR), the device is conceptually
safer, cleaner and more powerful than much larger, current nuclear
systems that rely on fission, the process of splitting atoms to release
energy. Crucially, by being "compact," Lockheed believes its scalable
concept will also be small and practical enough for applications ranging
from interplanetary spacecraft and commercial ships to city power
stations. It may even revive the concept of large, nuclear-powered
aircraft that virtually never require refueling---ideas of which were
largely abandoned more than 50 years ago because of the dangers and
complexities involved with nuclear fission reactors."
Yesterday, Science (on line news) mentioned it.
"The defense firm Lockheed Martin sent tech geeks into a frenzy
yesterday when itrevealed a few scant details of a "compact fusion
reactor" (CFR) that a small team has been working on at the company's
secretive Skunk Works in Palmdale, California. The company says that its
innovative method for confining the superhot ionized gas, or plasma,
necessary for fusion means that it can make a working reactor 1/10 the
size of current efforts, such as the international ITER fusion project
under construction in France."
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Skunkworks is known to pull off difficult engineering concepts. Hope
they get lucky! The time horizon is 5 years to demo; 10 years to
commercial product. Possibly a cusp geometry, perhaps one known as a
"picket fence." Speculatively using a Field Reversed Configuration.
Super conductive electromagnets.