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> U.S. submarines and aircraft carriers run on nuclear power, but they have large fusion reactors on board that have to be replaced on a regular cycle. sigh To the extent this is true I suspect those "large fusion reactors" are tuned not so much for generating electricity and a great deal for annihilating whatever the carrying missile is pointed at. But never mind fuzzy thinking at Reuters right now. This is amazing…
> Initial work demonstrated the feasibility of building a 100-megawatt reactor measuring seven feet by 10 feet, which could fit on the back of a large truck, and is about 10 times smaller than current reactors, McGuire said. So that would power 50k to 100k typical houses in the US... not bad!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article certainly does, even if Lockheed does not. "U.S. submarines and aircraft carriers run on nuclear power, but they have large fusion reactors on board that have to be replaced on a regular cycle." US naval vessels have fission reactors, not fusion. I'm also pretty sure that although they would refuel a reactor, that rather than replace the reactor they'll likely replace the ship.
As etiam points out[0], some of them do carry fusion reactors, but they are not designed to generate electricity. [0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8458426
The article is completely wrong about US Navy ships having fusion reactors. They have fission reactors, not fusion. I wonder if they are even reporting the breakthrough right since they clearly don't know the difference. For all we know the breakthrough may be smaller fission reactors too, which isn't a big deal at all.
> U.S. submarines and aircraft carriers run on nuclear power, but they have large fission reactors on board that have to be replaced on a regular cycle.
I’m sure I’ve heard that somewhere before…
Very cheap energy means cheap war and lots of it. This could be bad.
>U.S. submarines and aircraft carriers run on nuclear power, but they have large fusion reactors on board that have to be replaced on a regular cycle. I don't think so.