What's new on the fusion front?

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/10/8740899-whats-new-on-the-fusion-front

What's new on the fusion front?

By Alan Boyle

The standard joke about nuclear fusion is that it's the energy technology of the future, and always will be. Well, fusion is still an energy option for the future rather than the present, but small steps forward are being reported on several fronts. That even includes the long-ridiculed campaign for "cold fusion."

Efforts by the Italian-based Leonardo Corp. to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45153076/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/italian-cold-fusion-machine-passes-another-test/">harness low-energy nuclear reactions (the technology formerly known as cold fusion) have reawakened the dream of somehow producing surplus heat through unorthodox chemistry. Today, Pure Energy Systems News reported that Leonardo's Andrea Rossi signed an agreement with Texas-based National Instruments to http://pesn.com/2011/11/10/9601953_National_Instruments_signs_to_do_E-Cat_controls/">build instrumentation for E-Cat cold-fusion reactors.

Will this venture actually pan out? The E-Cat reactors are so shrouded in secrecy and murky claims that it's hard to do a reality check, but most outside experts say that the concept just won't work.

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Laser ignition

Researchers had hoped to reach that big milestone, known as ignition, at the $3.5 billion National Ignition Facility http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/01/28/4350708-is-fusion-success-in-sight">by the end of 2010. But in last week's issue of Science, Steven Koonin, the Energy Department's under secretary for science, was http://www.sciencemag.org/content/334/6055/449.short">quoted as saying "ignition is proving more elusive than hoped" and added that "some science discovery may be required" to make it a reality. (Coincidentally, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced this week that http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/11/steven-koonin-to-step-down-as-doe.html">Koonin will be leaving his post.)

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(Updates on other projects at the link.)

[OKIsItJustMe]

1. (FWIW: Leonardo’s explanation of) “How the E-Cat Works”

http://www.leonardo-ecat.com/fp/Technology/How_it_Works/index.html

How the E-Cat Works

The heart of an E-Cat (Energy Catalyzer) is the reactor core. This is the metal tube in which the cold fusion nuclear reactions take place. Due to the high power density of the E-Cat technology, extremely large reactor cores are not required. Most E-Cat reactor core models have an internal volume that is smaller than a can of soda. Others are as small as a D-Cell battery, with an internal volume of around 50 cubic centimeters.

In the tube that composes the reactor core, a small quantity of specially processed, micron grain sized, nickel powder is placed. The nickel powder has been enriched in two specific isotopes (Ni-62 and Ni-64) via a proprietary and cheap method that only adds 10% to the final cost of the raw material. Enriching the nickel powder in Ni-62 and Ni-64 is important, because it is these two isotopes that undergo the most nuclear reactions.

Once the nickel powder is placed in the reactor core, an even smaller quantity of catalyst material is inserted into the same metal tube. Without the catalyst, the E-Cat could not produce practical levels of output. The catalyst is composed of one or more chemical elements that are not radioactive, rare, or expensive. In fact, the cost of the catalyst is considered to be insignificant.

Next, the reactor core is filled with a small quantity of pressurized hydrogen gas, from an external canister. The pressure of the hydrogen gas is a key factor in moderating the intensity of the reactions that take place in the reactor core. Higher hydrogen pressure increases the rate at which nuclear reactions take place, and lower hydrogen pressure reduces the rate.

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