Alan J Fletcher wrote:
I don't think that's going to (or needs to) happen any time soon --- it only delivers 500C (limited by the nickel powder degrading?) at 50 bar. Electrical conversion efficiency at that level is less than 20% (??) -- times the 6x factor is barely over unity.
It is way better than that. Conventional nuclear power plant water in the secondary loop is kept at 275°C, and that produces about 30% efficiency. In pressurized plants, the primary loop is around 345°C.
They could make a nuke run a lot hotter, as they do in a combustion plant. That would improve Carnot efficiency. They deliberately hold the temperature down to reduce wear and tear on the equipment in a nuclear plant, because the primary energy is so cheap. I expect they will do the same with a Rossi gadget generator.
There is no question the Rossi device can produce temperatures high enough for efficient, compact electric power generation. 500°C is not the upper limit, and even if it was, that's high enough for high-efficiency conversion.
Also, the 6x factor can easily be improved. That is just a matter of engineering. The device can run with no input at all. That is dangerous, but the control current can be reduced to less than 1/6th of the output heat.
As Abd pointed out, with mordant humor, running a convention fission reactor in a self-sustaining mode without control current is also dangerous.
- Jed
