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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.
The patent, for a portion of the confinement system, or embodiment, is dated Feb. 15, 2018. The Maryland-headquartered defense contractor had filed a provisional claim on April 3, 2013 and a formal application nearly a year later. Our good friend Stephen Trimble, chief of Flightglobal's Americas Bureau, subsequently spotted it and Tweeted out its basic details.
In 2014, the company also made a splash by announcing they were working on the device at all and that it was the responsibility of its Skunk Works advanced projects office in Palmdale, California. At the time, Dr. Thomas McGuire, head of the Skunk Works’ Compact Fusion Project, said the goal was to have a working reactor in five years and production worthy design within 10.
[...] Considering the five year timeline Dr. McGuire put out in 2014 for achieving a workable prototype, maybe we’re due for another big announcement from Lockheed Martin in the near future.
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Wednesday March 28 2018, @03:01PM
There's that whole cruising range issue, and there's also a peak power issue – nukes can make a lot steam, and very quickly. Subs in particular benefit from being able to go wherever, whenever, without having to refuel. For carriers, since the aircraft need lots of petro-fuels, the advantage is somewhat muted, although still they have the ability to keep the carrier itself on station without refueling, which in turn means fewer tankers going back and forth overall.
No matter what the vessel, unless it is 100% automated, the sailors need to be fed, so resupply eventually becomes an issue no matter what the power source. Carriers have a lot of room for storage, but they also have very large crews...
Essentially unlimited power availability also means that energy weapons are more practical, so lasers, particle beams, railguns, that sort of thing will be better accommodated on vessels with nuclear power sources, fission or otherwise.
Anyway, I agree that dependable, high-output fusion reactor implementations would be of immense value to the navy, even if quite costly. Also to remote science installations, etc.