{"id":48724,"date":"2014-10-20T12:00:52","date_gmt":"2014-10-20T11:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=48724"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:29:37","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:29:37","slug":"lockheed-announces-breakthrough-on-nuclear-fusion-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/10\/lockheed-announces-breakthrough-on-nuclear-fusion-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"Lockheed Announces Breakthrough on Nuclear Fusion Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><em>100MW reactor small enough to fit on back of a truck<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Cleaner energy source could be in use within 10 years<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_48725\" style=\"width: 470px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/lockheed-fusion-reactor-munich.jpeg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48725\" class=\"size-full wp-image-48725\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/lockheed-fusion-reactor-munich.jpeg\" alt=\"An experimental fusion reactor in Munich. Lockheed says its version will fit on the back of a truck. Photograph: Peter Ginter\/Peter Ginter\/Science Faction\/Corbis\" width=\"460\" height=\"276\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/lockheed-fusion-reactor-munich.jpeg 460w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/lockheed-fusion-reactor-munich-300x180.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-48725\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An experimental fusion reactor in Munich. Lockheed says its version will fit on the back of a truck. Photograph: Peter Ginter\/Peter Ginter\/Science Faction\/Corbis<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Lockheed Martin Corp said on Wednesday [15 Oct 2014] 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.<\/p>\n<p>Tom McGuire, who heads the project, said he and a small team had been working on fusion energy at Lockheed\u2019s secretive Skunk Works for about four years, but were now going public to find potential partners in industry and government for their work.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement, the company, the Pentagon\u2019s largest supplier, said it would build and test a compact fusion reactor in less than a year, and build a prototype in five years.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Lockheed\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>If it proves feasible, Lockheed\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can make a big difference on the energy front,\u201d McGuire said, noting Lockheed\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Ultra-dense deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, is found in the earth\u2019s oceans, and tritium is made from natural lithium deposits. It said future reactors could use a different fuel and eliminate radioactive waste completely.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat makes our project really interesting and feasible is that timeline as a potential solution,\u201d McGuire said.<\/p>\n<p>Lockheed shares fell 0.6% to $175.02 amid a broad market selloff.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2014\/oct\/15\/lockheed-breakthrough-nuclear-fusion-energy?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2\" >Go to Original \u2013 theguardian.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lockheed Martin Corp said on Wednesday [15 Oct 2014] 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48724\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}