Topic: New reactor type puts out 50 or more times what is put in

[Stormbringer]

From time to time I post summaries of science magazines in the off topic forums. This month's popular Mechanics has an article on a UAV powered by a new type of portable nuclear reactor that does not use fusion of fission. It uses a quantum reaction of X ray excited hafnium. The article talks about the UAV which will fly soon but also about other airplanes. I believe that the reactor could power space ships with some modifications to the basic schemes. I also thought that would be of interest to people who like science fiction, space, and space games. so I am posting a notice here for those who are interested  to go to the cool and refreshing forum if they want to read it (and no it was not the april fools issue.)  


BTW:   the reactor could easily power an ion propulsion system far more robust than any fielded so far or heat a working fluid for exhaust purposes.

[Stormbringer]

good link to a peer reviewed journal article on the reactor by SPQR (?) renegade in the thread about it on H&S forum, unfortunately not on my thread itself. Also a link to another article (on line this time) on the UAV.  

[Sirgod]

This Is great news, and thank you for sharing It with us Storm.

Stephen

[Age]

  I couldn't agree with you more like SirGod said.  

[Magnum357]

Yes, very good news indeed.  Now maybe we can actually send probes and possibly ships too other parts of the solor system in faster time.  We really need better technology and propulsion systems if we ever want too get off this rock!  The way NASA has it now, it will take at least a thousand years just too get anywhere else in the solor system.  

[762]

"quantum reaction of X ray excited hafnium"

Looking forward to reading how that works. Do they explain the actual physics or give it the usual Popular Mechanics gloss-over?

[SPQR Renegade001]

Not sure if you'd call this a gloss over, but it's something that I could understand

http://www.matus1976.com/features/isomer.htm

 

Quote:
  Nuclear Isomers are an exciting new development in the field of Nuclear physics. They are, essentially, a nuclear storage battery. Just as atoms can have electrons in excited states, atomic nuclei can have nucleons (protons and nuetrons) in excited states as well, but unlike atoms with electrons in excited states, the nucleons can remain in their excited states for extended lengths of time. The excited nucleons can randomly decay on their own, and have representative half-lifes as well. Not all atoms can have stable excited nucleons, and typically larger atoms are more likely to have longer half-lifes of the excited nucleons. But, the theory goes, the nucleons of an atom can be excited to higher energy levels by bombarding them with gamma rays, and then triggered to release their energy on demand by hitting them with lower energy photons, Ultra Violet or X-Rays. These would amount immensely dense energy storage devices, with power densities per unit wieght reaching a theorhetical limit near that of low end fusion reactions!

Best Batteries - 300 Wh/Kg
Fuel Cells (aluminum) - 4,000 Wh/kg
Isomer Nucleonic - 800,000,000 Wh/Kg
Fusion - 90,000,000,000 Wh/Kg

If that's not enough for ya, this one is a bit more technical.
http://www.utdallas.edu/research/quantum/Tutorial.htm
How much it really has to do with this I can't tell ya, cause I can't read it  

[Stormbringer]

I personally like the journal paper link you posted in the H&S forum better but these are good too. I remember (thanks to your links0 when this discovery was actually made in the 90's. I had forgotten about it and then it appeared to be a long way off. now they have hardware that is about to fly (the UAV.)

[Stormbringer]

Renegade's link in the H&S thread is a peer reviewed paper on the process behind the article.

[Stormbringer]

This comparison in your quoted text skips fission reactions. But since it is approaching the low end of fusion reactions I think I can assume that it is equivelant of a high end fission process. Think about it an ion drive powered by a fission reactor. Zoooom!

[Stormbringer]

Since it really is just a super dense battery it will need a charger. How about big solar collector satellites equipped with giant terminals for a nucleon powered ship to plug into; or such satellites with laser/maser beams to relay power to a nucleon ship out in the outskirts of the solar system?

[Magnum357]

"Isomer Nucleonic - 800,000,000 Wh/Kg"

Holy Crap guys!  If the Battery is small enough, it could easily give you enough power too run cars with.  But I bet the technology is probably way too bulky for that.  But this could really be handy for long range space exploration ships/probes.  I hope NASA and other pursue this technology.  It has a lot of benefits.

[Stormbringer]

No it can't be too bulky for that. [ after all it will be powering a global hawk type UAV in a few months ] But it is too expensive -unless they replace the hafnium with another nucleonic material. Hafnium is pretty rare.  

[Stormbringer]

From time to time I post summaries of science magazines in the off topic forums. This month's popular Mechanics has an article on a UAV powered by a new type of portable nuclear reactor that does not use fusion of fission. It uses a quantum reaction of X ray excited hafnium. The article talks about the UAV which will fly soon but also about other airplanes. I believe that the reactor could power space ships with some modifications to the basic schemes. I also thought that would be of interest to people who like science fiction, space, and space games. so I am posting a notice here for those who are interested  to go to the cool and refreshing forum if they want to read it (and no it was not the april fools issue.)  


BTW:   the reactor could easily power an ion propulsion system far more robust than any fielded so far or heat a working fluid for exhaust purposes.

[Stormbringer]

good link to a peer reviewed journal article on the reactor by SPQR (?) renegade in the thread about it on H&S forum, unfortunately not on my thread itself. Also a link to another article (on line this time) on the UAV.  

[Sirgod]

This Is great news, and thank you for sharing It with us Storm.

Stephen

[Age]

  I couldn't agree with you more like SirGod said.  

[Magnum357]

Yes, very good news indeed.  Now maybe we can actually send probes and possibly ships too other parts of the solor system in faster time.  We really need better technology and propulsion systems if we ever want too get off this rock!  The way NASA has it now, it will take at least a thousand years just too get anywhere else in the solor system.  

[762]

"quantum reaction of X ray excited hafnium"

Looking forward to reading how that works. Do they explain the actual physics or give it the usual Popular Mechanics gloss-over?

[SPQR Renegade001]

Not sure if you'd call this a gloss over, but it's something that I could understand

http://www.matus1976.com/features/isomer.htm

 

Quote:
  Nuclear Isomers are an exciting new development in the field of Nuclear physics. They are, essentially, a nuclear storage battery. Just as atoms can have electrons in excited states, atomic nuclei can have nucleons (protons and nuetrons) in excited states as well, but unlike atoms with electrons in excited states, the nucleons can remain in their excited states for extended lengths of time. The excited nucleons can randomly decay on their own, and have representative half-lifes as well. Not all atoms can have stable excited nucleons, and typically larger atoms are more likely to have longer half-lifes of the excited nucleons. But, the theory goes, the nucleons of an atom can be excited to higher energy levels by bombarding them with gamma rays, and then triggered to release their energy on demand by hitting them with lower energy photons, Ultra Violet or X-Rays. These would amount immensely dense energy storage devices, with power densities per unit wieght reaching a theorhetical limit near that of low end fusion reactions!

Best Batteries - 300 Wh/Kg
Fuel Cells (aluminum) - 4,000 Wh/kg
Isomer Nucleonic - 800,000,000 Wh/Kg
Fusion - 90,000,000,000 Wh/Kg

If that's not enough for ya, this one is a bit more technical.
http://www.utdallas.edu/research/quantum/Tutorial.htm
How much it really has to do with this I can't tell ya, cause I can't read it