RE: [Vo]:Lockheed patent for compact fusion reactor

2018-04-04 Thread Roarty, Francis X 
Jones, I still work for them but lately all manual labor and cable management 
as we ready space fence. I cited the article too soon before reading all the 
caveats.
Fran
From: JonesBeene [mailto:jone...@pacbell.net]
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2018 10:15 AM
To: vortex-l@eskimo.com
Subject: EXTERNAL: RE: [Vo]:Lockheed patent for compact fusion reactor


Fran,

Brian expresses the sentiment of many experts – sine the handling of the 
announcement by LM was almost brain dead. I realize you worked there once, so 
please forgive the innuendo.

And they did not do this quietly – as the story was milked for its small 
technical value from the start. However, it is abundantly clear that the PR 
folks confuse 100 MW of heat with 100 MW of electricity, for instance, and do 
not realize that the conversion ratio for this design is not likely to exceed 
25% so we are NOT talking about a reactor that can power an aircraft carrier or 
a small (very small) city – but instead  4-5 will be required for a 
correspondingly large increase in cost per MW-hr.

The economics are not favorable when the realistic numbers are run. That is the 
bottom line and it has been that way for decades. In short this so-called 
“invention”  is long on hype and short on originality. It is not really very 
different from many other designs going back 50 years.

Having said this, however -  the great advantage of it would be in a 
fission/fusion hybrid where most of the heat comes from fission. Duh!

This kind of fusion/fission  hybrid is doable - and they talk about it in 
places but never really design for it… Other than that small oversight, the 
concept, size and form are perfect for a hybrid. The one thing lacking is a 
pair of desktop accelerators for the neutral beams. That kind of advance would 
have made this into something to get excited about.

As of now – it looks to be basically a PR gimmick – more so than anything 
really useful - but it does make surprising sense as a fission/fusion hybrid – 
IF they would only redesign it accordingly.



From: Brian Ahern<mailto:ahern_br...@msn.com>

There claims are amateurish at best

Roarty, Francis X  wrote:
Lockheed Martin has quietly obtained a patent associated with its design for a 
potentially revolutionary compact fusion reactor, or CFR. If this project has 
been progressing on schedule, the company could debut a prototype system that 
size of shipping container, but capable of powering a Nimitz-class aircraft 
carrier<https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedrive.com%2Fthe-war-zone%2F16010%2Fthese-are-the-images-of-three-u-s-supercarriers-in-formation-youve-been-waiting-for&data=02%7C01%7C%7C47f01fa4b21248bb39eb08d59996ba58%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435%7C1%7C0%7C636583794999822977&sdata=f7n8niSej77ExRkH4jjZpz2rMn9JKFG8akcIUPCx2%2Fc%3D&reserved=0>
 or 80,000 homes, sometime in the next year or so.

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/19652/lockheed-martin-now-has-a-patent-for-its-potentially-world-changing-fusion-reactor<https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedrive.com%2Fthe-war-zone%2F19652%2Flockheed-martin-now-has-a-patent-for-its-potentially-world-changing-fusion-reactor&data=02%7C01%7C%7C47f01fa4b21248bb39eb08d59996ba58%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435%7C1%7C0%7C63658379479230&sdata=pPyezJ4R9cGbkrRSWcGpsGnjN5DxqilKlZzGFxh4%2BHw%3D&reserved=0>

RE: [Vo]:Lockheed patent for compact fusion reactor

2018-04-04 Thread JonesBeene 

Fran, 

Brian expresses the sentiment of many experts – sine the handling of the 
announcement by LM was almost brain dead. I realize you worked there once, so 
please forgive the innuendo.

And they did not do this quietly – as the story was milked for its small 
technical value from the start. However, it is abundantly clear that the PR 
folks confuse 100 MW of heat with 100 MW of electricity, for instance, and do 
not realize that the conversion ratio for this design is not likely to exceed 
25% so we are NOT talking about a reactor that can power an aircraft carrier or 
a small (very small) city – but instead  4-5 will be required for a 
correspondingly large increase in cost per MW-hr.

 The economics are not favorable when the realistic numbers are run. That is 
the bottom line and it has been that way for decades. In short this so-called 
“invention”  is long on hype and short on originality. It is not really very 
different from many other designs going back 50 years.

Having said this, however -  the great advantage of it would be in a 
fission/fusion hybrid where most of the heat comes from fission. Duh!

This kind of fusion/fission  hybrid is doable - and they talk about it in 
places but never really design for it… Other than that small oversight, the 
concept, size and form are perfect for a hybrid. The one thing lacking is a 
pair of desktop accelerators for the neutral beams. That kind of advance would 
have made this into something to get excited about.

As of now – it looks to be basically a PR gimmick – more so than anything 
really useful - but it does make surprising sense as a fission/fusion hybrid – 
IF they would only redesign it accordingly.



From: Brian Ahern

There claims are amateurish at best


Roarty, Francis X  wrote:
Lockheed Martin has quietly obtained a patent associated with its design for a 
potentially revolutionary compact fusion reactor, or CFR. If this project has 
been progressing on schedule, the company could debut a prototype system that 
size of shipping container, but capable of powering a Nimitz-class aircraft 
carrier or 80,000 homes, sometime in the next year or so.
 
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/19652/lockheed-martin-now-has-a-patent-for-its-potentially-world-changing-fusion-reactor

Re: [Vo]:Lockheed patent for compact fusion reactor

2018-04-04 Thread Brian Ahern 
There claims are amateurish at. Best

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 3, 2018, at 3:11 PM, Roarty, Francis X 
mailto:francis.x.roa...@lmco.com>> wrote:

Lockheed Martin has quietly obtained a patent associated with its design for a 
potentially revolutionary compact fusion reactor, or CFR. If this project has 
been progressing on schedule, the company could debut a prototype system that 
size of shipping container, but capable of powering a Nimitz-class aircraft 
carrier
 or 80,000 homes, sometime in the next year or so.

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/19652/lockheed-martin-now-has-a-patent-for-its-potentially-world-changing-fusion-reactor