Search found 256 matches

by pfrit
Sat Dec 17, 2011 3:59 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Stratolaunch, a new and affordable space launch system.
Replies: 23
Views: 11046

One thing to consider is that an airplane's cost is dominated by fuel costs and a rocket never is. A rocket is dominated by material and personnel costs. By moving more of the cost to fuel rather than to material you are moving towards the desired goal of having space access driven by fuel costs. If...
by pfrit
Thu Jul 28, 2011 5:39 pm
Forum: News
Topic: 10KW LENR demonstrator (new thread)
Replies: 6351
Views: 2169027

by pfrit
Sun Jul 03, 2011 7:58 pm
Forum: News
Topic: NIF: no ignition this year
Replies: 26
Views: 13015

FELs are continous beam as a rule. For inertial fusion pulse's duration should be of nanoseconds order. Or useless for that application. Also the shape of pulse has a matter. Considering the cost of an FEL, efficiency is just not a concern. Wrong. Energy pumped in pulse vs. energy gained from that ...
by pfrit
Sun Jul 03, 2011 5:15 pm
Forum: News
Topic: NIF: no ignition this year
Replies: 26
Views: 13015

My English is very bad. So, please explain me what does it mean? The efficiency of FELs has been demonstrated to be greater than 40% at long wavelengths, but most will operate at a lower efficiency of a few percent. As between a few percents and forty percents is a very big gap. I am only an engine...
by pfrit
Sun Jul 03, 2011 4:36 am
Forum: News
Topic: NIF: no ignition this year
Replies: 26
Views: 13015

Actually, a really targeted (non tunable) FEL can get over 40% efficiency. And they are high power as well. Now I have in my hands the book: James J. Duderstadt, Gregory A. Moss, INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION, John Wiley and Sons, NY, 1982 So, about 5%. Even less really achieved till 1982. I admit th...
by pfrit
Sat Jul 02, 2011 8:08 am
Forum: News
Topic: NIF: no ignition this year
Replies: 26
Views: 13015

Actually, a really targeted (non tunable) FEL can get over 40% efficiency. And they are high power as well.
by pfrit
Thu Mar 24, 2011 3:26 am
Forum: Implications
Topic: Questions about fusion safety, waste
Replies: 15
Views: 30758

The big difference between the neutrons produced in a fission reactor and a fusion reactor is where they would be absorbed. In a fuel rod the neutrons are in a dense material of heavy atoms, so most of neutrons (ok, many) will be absorbed by the surrounding fuel. Thus the chain reaction. In a fusion...
by pfrit
Wed Mar 23, 2011 3:14 am
Forum: News
Topic: Questions about fusion safety, waste
Replies: 5
Views: 5530

First, this should be in general, not news. Second, Neutron activation is no joke. It can make some really nasty stuff. Granted that this happens in a fission reactor as well, though my understanding is that it not as severe in fission as the neutron flux is not as intense. Also since the neutron fl...
by pfrit
Tue Mar 08, 2011 6:08 am
Forum: News
Topic: EM Drive
Replies: 785
Views: 601956

Technically that is true, but in a complex universe, it is not. As the speed of the vehicle increase, and long before the tau factor rears its ugly head, the relative temperature of the ambient space rises which makes the rocket perform less efficiently. Remember that in its most simple form a rocke...
by pfrit
Sun Feb 13, 2011 10:46 pm
Forum: News
Topic: New Compact High Temperature Superconductor Cable
Replies: 33
Views: 15114

Well, in reality you need to cool the SC well below its Curie temp. In many if not most SC applications you still use liquid helium. The lower the temp, the better the capabilities. Same goes with pressure. You want the pressure as high as you can safely get.
by pfrit
Tue Feb 08, 2011 2:14 am
Forum: News
Topic: Lawaranceville E-Newsletter
Replies: 880
Views: 527071

And the IAEA does not either. So you've discussed this with the IAEA, then? Because, actually, I have! I wrote to Yuri Sokolov some years back about the relationship of fusion research done by private individuals to the IAEA and the various treaties and missions that are done in the name of 'intern...
by pfrit
Mon Feb 07, 2011 8:41 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Lawaranceville E-Newsletter
Replies: 880
Views: 527071

Article IV, part 2 states in part: Parties to the Treaty in a position to do so shall also co-operate in contributing alone or together with other States or international organizations to the further development of the applications of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, Since the data is owned by...
by pfrit
Mon Feb 07, 2011 7:58 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Lawaranceville E-Newsletter
Replies: 880
Views: 527071

I think your interpretation of the words of the treaty is very strange. There is no 'right to demand' in the treaty, there is only a 'right to accept, if offered' - which needs to be said else it may be otherwise denied by the earlier articles. Private organisations doing whatever they want to do w...
by pfrit
Mon Feb 07, 2011 7:28 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Lawaranceville E-Newsletter
Replies: 880
Views: 527071

The upshot of that part is that if it is nuclear tech that can be used peacefully, it must be shared. Sorry. That doesn't follow. Article 1 states that signatories with nuclear weapons [specifically] undertake not to share any nuclear weaponry materials to, or encourage, non-weapon signatories. Not...
by pfrit
Mon Feb 07, 2011 6:38 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Lawaranceville E-Newsletter
Replies: 880
Views: 527071

You can't run a fusion project in the "Black". Non-Proliferation Treaty forbids it. Some secrecy is of course allowed in the manner of slow reporting, but it cannot be black or have trade secrets. Its not just a good idea, its the law. I am not sure where you get that impression from. The non-proli...