Lockheed Martin Corp, few months ago, said that it has 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 gotten increasingly involved in a variety
of alternate energy projects, including several ocean energy projects, as it
looks to offset a decline in U.S. 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 percent to 50 percent 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 U.S. Navy warship, and
eliminate the need for other fuel sources that pose logistical challenges.U.S.
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 percent to
$175.02 amid a broad market selloff.
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