Re: Re: Shiva "Shiva Star"
Russell Garber ( (no email) )
Tue, 05 Oct 1999 12:01:35 -0400
Hi all!
I did a quick search myself to see if I could find any newer information on the
devices I posted about in this thread. It appears that the latest in Sandia's
fusion technology arsenal is it's Z-pinch accelerator, known simply as Z.
More information on this device can be found at the following URL:
http://www.sandia.gov/media/NewsRel/NR1999/thermo.htm
Excerpts:
<SNIP>
"fusion meant to create virtually unlimited electrical power requires the
high-yield implosion of a pea-sized deuterium-tritium pellet every few seconds"
<SNIP>
"The proposed power generation process for inertial fusion resembles the rapid
series of explosions that drive a gasoline engine. Instead of gasoline and air
interacting chemically, isotopes of hydrogen fuse. The problem has been that
the power of a high-yield thermonuclear explosion would damage not only the
pellet-target, which could be rapidly replaced, but also the last five feet of
power lines connected to the target. This has been a stumbling block in
envisioning Z as a source of real-world power, since a near-continuous stream
of rapid-fire explosions is necessary to continuously create steam to turn
turbines"
<SNIP>
""We propose to get around the problem by using recyclable transmission lines,
perhaps of lithium or flibe [fluorine, lithium, and beryllium]." Hollow spheres
-- "Christmas tree" ornaments -- of lithium or flibe surrounding the lines
would serve as the heat exchange medium and moderators of neutron flux.
Transmission lines would cycle on a large horizontal carousel. After the
firing, or shot, the then-liquefied lithium or flibe would be pushed out of the
chamber and its heat used to drive electrical generators. Tritium, an isotope
of hydrogen essential for the fusion process, would be harvested from the
liquefied metal. Finally, the spent metal would be put in a mold to form new
transmission lines and new "Christmas tree" ornaments"
<SNIP>
"Nuclear fusion could be a way to produce energy not only on Earth but also in
spacecraft or in space colonies, since its power source -- isotopes of hydrogen
-- for the most part is readily available"
Maybe we will see over unity in the near future after all...
-Russ
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