Nuclear propulsion advocates

[SanderBuruma]

One of the dangers I've heard about that I'm most concerned with is a coronal mass ejection (or some sort of massive EMP event like atmospheric nuclear explosions). As I understand it a [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859"]Carrington-type[/ame] event. If that were to happen again (small, but significant chance) I believe the grids would go down and lots of nuclear plants go into meltdown, though I'm no expert and don't know all that much about it.

 

[Capt_hensley]

http://phys.org/news/2013-03-teen-compact-nuclear-reactor.html
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...044_1_nuclear-energy-maglich-fission-reactors

Arguments for or against Nuclear Power are mute. Time will give us the power we need, without the radioactive waste we dread. Read on, it's interesting...

 

[Loru]

1st reactor in principle works just like molten salt thorium reactor.

As for second one :facepalm:

A relatively light element, lithium releases energy equivalent to millions of degrees Fahrenheit when bombarded with high-energy protons. And there is enough lithium in the world to last another 100,000 years, Maglich said.

Not only is aneutronic energy safer than fission or fusion, but it also would be cheaper because it would produce more energy per pound of fuel and would not require lots of money for protective radiation shields, he said.

Well - everything releases energy when bombarded with high energy protons. It releases energy of those protons.

Also is it fusion of lithium into higher elements or breaking lithium down?

 

[jedidia]

lithium releases energy equivalent to millions of degrees Fahrenheit

Somebody got their units totally mixed up...
"The new breaks on my car have strength equivalent to millions of cherries..." :lol:

 

[kamaz]

Also is it fusion of lithium into higher elements or breaking lithium down?

Li-H fusion:
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1134/1.1593184
http://www.google.com/patents/US20090274256

 

[Urwumpe]

Li-H fusion:
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1134/1.1593184
http://www.google.com/patents/US20090274256

Again, it shows the really poor quality of the US patent system. You could even patent the result of your last session in the bath room.

Lithium + hydrogen fusion is possible in brown dwarfs (and very poor in effectivity), but it does not result in Helium as claimed in the patent in the first instance. The hydrogen beam would result in a beryllium beam.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_burning"]Lithium burning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

 

[Ghostrider]

Again, it shows the really poor quality of the US patent system. You could even patent the result of your last session in the bath room. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_burning

I for one would do it. I wouldn't like anyone to go and try to replicate it. I'm not sure reality itself could withstand anything like that.

 

[kamaz]

Lithium + hydrogen fusion is possible in brown dwarfs (and very poor in effectivity), but it does not result in Helium as claimed in the patent in the first instance. The hydrogen beam would result in a beryllium beam.

¹H + ⁷Li -> ⁸Be

However, ⁸Be is [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_beryllium"]unstable[/ame] and decays to 2 alpha particles with 6.6E-17 s halflife. Per the Springer article I linked, the reaction produces 17.35 MeV.

 

[Urwumpe]

¹H + ⁷Li -> ⁸Be

However, ⁸Be is unstable and decays to 2 alpha particles with 6.6E-17 s halflife. Per the Springer article I linked, the reaction produces 17.35 MeV.

That is still long enough to change the reaction cross section.

 

[fsci123]

That is still long enough to change the reaction cross section.

Fusion pulses in sub-microsecond bursts could resolve that.