New Large DPF in Las Vegas Unveiled
(8) CommentsChris Hagen of National Security Technologies announced for the first time at a November conference in Warsaw, Poland work that has been ongoing for a few years in Las Vegas, Nevada to use large DPFs as neutron sources for testing purposes.
In 2008, NSTec had built a 500 kJ DPF called Tallboy that produced 3 MA of peak current. NSTec is now testing a 1 MJ DPF that is expected to generate over 4 MA of peak current, which will make it the most powerful in North America, and possibly in the world.
The work, while unclassified, was funded by a Department of Energy National Strategic Security program that had previously limited public disclosures.
Tallboy achieved a maximum neutron yield of 6x1011 with deuterium, when charged with 250 kJ. Currently the new 1 MJ Gemini machine uses electrodes with the following dimensions: anode radius 7.5 cm, cathode radius 10 cm, insulator length 7.5 cm and electrode length 50 cm, which makes it intermediate in size between the larger PF-1000 in Warsaw and Focus-Fusion-1 in New Jersey.
Dr. Hagen has been very friendly and open to LPP since we contacted him last month, and his experience with another large DPF will be extremely useful to us. We are continuing our collaboration with the Focus Fusion Society to set up closer collaboration among all the DPF groups in the world. The technical section of our Focus Fusion Newsletter, upcoming on Jan. 18 will be another step in this direction.
Update: The new Dense Plasma Focus website is a further attempt to coordinate the efforts of DPF groups worldwide.
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For a more in depth discussion, start a thread in the forums.Oh, this is very good. Is there a site or any other way of following Dr. Hagen’s progress?
The information exchange will be hot and heavy, I betcha!
“The information exchange will be hot and heavy, I betcha!”
Or not.
Government funded work is typically subject to many limits on use and disclosure. A company like National Security Technologies (living on Federal money, working on nuclear matters of national security) is less a government contractor than the government itself.
Not all research in DPF is the same—some efforts may be directed towards perfecting DPF as neutron source, others as an X-Ray source, and others like LPP for energy production. There are many variables (fuel, electrode size and composition) and what works best for one application may not be the same as for another.
The big—and unanswerable question—is whether National Security Technologies is really devoted just to neutron production. The speed with which it moved to build a bigger DFP implies they got encouraging results with the smaller one. Maybe what they do will help LPP, but maybe they will prove to be a better funded competitor. The good news is DPF is getting more attention—perhaps validating Eric’s campaign for many years to devote more research to it.
CK
Good thing Uncle Same at least gave LPP a patent ;-D
Indeed, Derek!
My thought about information was based on the observation/intuition that the way the electrodes, gasses, and triggers behave is common ground, and evidently of significant concern.
And regardless of the output, a pinch is still a pinch!
A Scroogle search on “National Security Technologies” + “Chris Hagen” + DPF produced a listing including half a dozen citations of this article!
And also some direct references, including this pdf:
http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/publications/sitelines/sl134.pdf
Includes a pic of their rig. Hard to see much detail, though.
For more information go to DOE/NV/11718-696. I find it interesting that the US DOE, National Security Administration looks to DPF as a source of neutrons. Could they be seeking:
- Enrichment of U 238
- Accelerator driven Thorium power
- A hybrid fission/fusion design
- Radiation testing of materials
- Deuterium/Tritium Fusion
Any thoughts? Other info?
That’s a PDF file: http://www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/795703-CR0SeY/native/795703.pdf .
Right, more keystrokes same info, I saw it earlier, but i was looking for new info.
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