In reply to Jed Rothwell's message of Thu, 04 Jan 2007 15:56:22 -0500: Hi, [snip] >None. But suppose only CF is made practical, and the temperature is >limited to, say, 1000 deg C. I suppose that would call for a two- or >three-stage approach, starting with heat to electricity. > Not necessarily. It is becoming evident that when CF actually occurs, alpha particles are the usual nuclear product. It may become possible to arrange for them to be ejected directly rather than undergoing any form of conversion at all. Multi-MeV alphas would yield a very interesting specific impulse, and also be far and away the most efficient way of utilizing the fuel.
Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://users.bigpond.net.au/rvanspaa/ Competition provides the motivation, Cooperation provides the means.
