WASHINGTON, October 16 (RIA Novosti) - Lockheed Martin's new compact fusion reactor (CFR) is not a breakthrough in fusion energy and has no chance of working, Professor Ian H. Hutchinson of Nuclear Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told RIA Novosti Thursday.
"What they have analyzed pays very little attention to the fundamentals of fusion energy, and as far as I can tell has no chance in working," Hutchinson said.
The CFR would be used to create a nuclear reaction similar to what heats the sun to generate power, at the same time being compact enough to fit in the back of a truck.
Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works Team that is leading the CFR's development and has been doing fusion research for more than 60 years claims they will be able to design, build and test the reactor in less than a year and create its prototype in five years.
Although Lockheed Martin says this CFR is a breakthrough in fusion science and will combine several alternative magnetic confinement approaches, taking the best parts of each, Hutchinson disagreed.
"The reason why fusion energy is so hard is that nature cannot be fooled. The public can be fooled, investors can be fooled, the media can be fooled but nature cannot be fooled and so whatever approach to fusion energy one pursues, one must pay attention to the basic science and as far as I can see Lockheed's ideas don't do so," Hutchinson disagreed.
Lockheed Martin announced earlier that the CFR would be developed and deployed in as little as ten years, and that they are starting to search for partners to make further progress on the project.
