Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2019 13:42:18 GMT
The latest Lockheed Martin item.
aviationweek.com/defense/lockheeds-skunk-works-building-bigger-fusion-reactor
Lockheed's Skunk Works Building Bigger Fusion Reactor
Lockheed Martin’s ambitious plans to develop a compact fusion reactor (CFR) to provide clean nuclear energy remain on track according to the company and are set to move to the next stage with the completion this year of a scaled up, more powerful test reactor at the Skunk Works in Palmdale, California.
Updating progress on the CFR project to Aviation Week which first broke news of the initiative in 2014, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works vice president and general manager Jeff Babione says “the work we have done today verifies our models and shows that the physics we are talking about – the basis of what we are trying to do - is sound. We continue to progress that capability.”
Unlike current nuclear power plants which utilize fission power, a process which involves the splitting of atoms to release energy for electricity, nuclear fusion is aimed at fusing together two hydrogen isotopes; deuterium and tritium. Not only would the subsequent reaction create abundant carbon-free energy (deuterium is produced from sea water and tritium from lithium), but it would theoretically do so with no major environmental impact, shorter-lived residual radiation and no meltdown risk.
However, no practical fusion reactor has yet been developed mainly due to the complexity and energy required to contain the plasma in the reactor which forms when the fuel is heated and breaks down into ions and electrons. Close control of the plasma, which is confined by magnetic fields, is key to the concept as this enables the ions to overcome their mutual repulsion, collide, and fuse.
The fusion process creates helium-4, freeing neutrons which carry the released energy kinetically through the confining magnetic fields. These neutrons heat the reactor wall which, through conventional heat exchangers, can then be used to drive turbine generators.
With the ultimate goal of achieving reactor conditions, the Skunk Works plan is based on a series of progressively larger test reactors culminating in a TX prototype capable of demonstrate ignition conditions and the ability to run for upwards of 10 seconds in steady-state after the injectors, which will be used to ignite the plasma, are turned off. This will pave the way for development of an initial 100-megawatt production version capable of powering a ship or around 80,000 homes. Lockheed also envisages versions capable of powering large cargo and transport aircraft.
To-date the company has been working on the second iteration of its fourth test unit, T4B. “This year we are constructing another reactor – T5 – which will be a significantly larger and more powerful reactor than our T4,” says Babione. “We are current scheduled to have that go online towards the end of this year, so that will be another significant leap in capability and towards demonstrating that the physics underlining our concept works.”
The T5 reactor will be used to principally show the heating and inflation of the plasma and measure the depth of the trapped magnetized sheath protecting the walls from the plasma. It will also help measure the losses associated with where the boundaries of the magnetic field lines containing the plasma intersect or wrap around stalks holding the reactor’s superconducting magnets. In particular, T5 will be used to demonstrate the high-density plasma source and the ability to capture and confine the neutral beam injectors which initiate the plasma ignition.
Beyond the next reactor, Lockheed plans a further three test units culminating in T8 which will demonstrate a deuterium-tritium ignited reactor showing full confinement and stability of the alpha particles produced by the fusion process.
Although the company optimistically sketched out plans to run a new test reactor each year since the T4 was tested in 2014-2015, progress has been slower than hoped. Based on earlier comments made by Lockheed it is thought T5 may have originally been slated to be up and running by 2018. However, Babione says “we still have confidence” in the plan to get to the TX stage. “The next challenge is to scale it. How do you scale it up to generate power for a city or an entire town? That’s all ahead of us. It’s certainly not easy but we think it is in the realm of the possible.”
Lockheed's Skunk Works Building Bigger Fusion Reactor
Lockheed Martin’s ambitious plans to develop a compact fusion reactor (CFR) to provide clean nuclear energy remain on track according to the company and are set to move to the next stage with the completion this year of a scaled up, more powerful test reactor at the Skunk Works in Palmdale, California.
Updating progress on the CFR project to Aviation Week which first broke news of the initiative in 2014, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works vice president and general manager Jeff Babione says “the work we have done today verifies our models and shows that the physics we are talking about – the basis of what we are trying to do - is sound. We continue to progress that capability.”
Unlike current nuclear power plants which utilize fission power, a process which involves the splitting of atoms to release energy for electricity, nuclear fusion is aimed at fusing together two hydrogen isotopes; deuterium and tritium. Not only would the subsequent reaction create abundant carbon-free energy (deuterium is produced from sea water and tritium from lithium), but it would theoretically do so with no major environmental impact, shorter-lived residual radiation and no meltdown risk.
However, no practical fusion reactor has yet been developed mainly due to the complexity and energy required to contain the plasma in the reactor which forms when the fuel is heated and breaks down into ions and electrons. Close control of the plasma, which is confined by magnetic fields, is key to the concept as this enables the ions to overcome their mutual repulsion, collide, and fuse.
The fusion process creates helium-4, freeing neutrons which carry the released energy kinetically through the confining magnetic fields. These neutrons heat the reactor wall which, through conventional heat exchangers, can then be used to drive turbine generators.
With the ultimate goal of achieving reactor conditions, the Skunk Works plan is based on a series of progressively larger test reactors culminating in a TX prototype capable of demonstrate ignition conditions and the ability to run for upwards of 10 seconds in steady-state after the injectors, which will be used to ignite the plasma, are turned off. This will pave the way for development of an initial 100-megawatt production version capable of powering a ship or around 80,000 homes. Lockheed also envisages versions capable of powering large cargo and transport aircraft.
To-date the company has been working on the second iteration of its fourth test unit, T4B. “This year we are constructing another reactor – T5 – which will be a significantly larger and more powerful reactor than our T4,” says Babione. “We are current scheduled to have that go online towards the end of this year, so that will be another significant leap in capability and towards demonstrating that the physics underlining our concept works.”
The T5 reactor will be used to principally show the heating and inflation of the plasma and measure the depth of the trapped magnetized sheath protecting the walls from the plasma. It will also help measure the losses associated with where the boundaries of the magnetic field lines containing the plasma intersect or wrap around stalks holding the reactor’s superconducting magnets. In particular, T5 will be used to demonstrate the high-density plasma source and the ability to capture and confine the neutral beam injectors which initiate the plasma ignition.
Beyond the next reactor, Lockheed plans a further three test units culminating in T8 which will demonstrate a deuterium-tritium ignited reactor showing full confinement and stability of the alpha particles produced by the fusion process.
Although the company optimistically sketched out plans to run a new test reactor each year since the T4 was tested in 2014-2015, progress has been slower than hoped. Based on earlier comments made by Lockheed it is thought T5 may have originally been slated to be up and running by 2018. However, Babione says “we still have confidence” in the plan to get to the TX stage. “The next challenge is to scale it. How do you scale it up to generate power for a city or an entire town? That’s all ahead of us. It’s certainly not easy but we think it is in the realm of the possible.”
