Lockheed makes breakthrough in nuclear fusion

The first 100 MW reactors small enough to fit in the back of a truck, could be ready for use in a decade

Lockheed Martin Corp said on Wednesday it had made a technological breakthrough in developing a power source based on nuclear fusion, and the first reactors, small enough to fit on the back of a truck, could be ready for use in a decade.

Tom McGuire, who heads the project, said he and a small team had been working on fusion energy at Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works for about four years, but were now going public to find potential partners in industry and government for their work.

Initial work demonstrated the feasibility of building a 100-megawatt reactor measuring seven feet by 10 feet, which could fit on the back of a large truck, and is about 10 times smaller than current reactors, Mr. McGuire told reporters.

In a statement, the company, the Pentagon's largest supplier, said it would build and test a compact fusion reactor in less than a year, and build a prototype in five years.

In recent years, Lockheed has gotten increasingly involved in a variety of alternate energy projects, including several ocean energy projects, as it looks to offset a decline in U.S. and European military spending. Lockheed’s work on fusion energy could help in developing new power sources amid increasing global conflicts over energy, and as projections show there will be a 40 to 50 per cent increase in energy use over the next generation, Mr. McGuire said.

If it proves feasible, Lockheed's work would mark a key breakthrough in a field that scientists have long eyed as promising, but which has not yet yielded viable power systems. The effort seeks to harness the energy released during nuclear fusion, when atoms combine into more stable forms.

“We can make a big difference on the energy front,” Mr. McGuire said, noting Lockheed’s 60 years of research on nuclear fusion as a potential energy source that is safer and more efficient than current reactors based on nuclear fission.

Lockheed sees the project as part of a comprehensive approach to solving global energy and climate change problems. Compact nuclear fusion would produce far less waste than coal-powered plants since it would use deuterium-tritium fuel, which can generate nearly 10 million times more energy than the same amount of fossil fuels, the company said.

Ultra-dense deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, is found in the earth’s oceans, and tritium is made from natural lithium deposits. It said future reactors could use a different fuel and eliminate radioactive waste completely.

Mr. McGuire said the company had several patents pending for the work and was looking for partners in academia, industry and among government laboratories to advance the work. Lockheed said it had shown it could complete a design, build and test it in as little as a year, which should produce an operational reactor in 10 years, Mr. McGuire said. A small reactor could power a U.S. Navy warship, and eliminate the need for other fuel sources that pose logistical challenges.

U.S. submarines and aircraft carriers run on nuclear power, but they have large fission reactors on board that have to be replaced on a regular cycle.

“What makes our project really interesting and feasible is that timeline as a potential solution,” Mr. McGuire said.

Lockheed shares fell 0.6 per cent to $175.02 amid a broad market selloff.

Vultures may be rescued by their genetic diversity

A DNA analysis of 153 vultures caught from the wild for captive breeding centres of Bombay Natural History Society revealed that a large proportion was unrelated and that possibility of inbreeding was low.

India’s notoriously diminished vulture population, now just 3 per cent of its size from two decades ago, may in fact have a fighting chance of revival, says a new research paper. What vultures have lost in numbers, they make up for in genetic diversity — a key criterion for successful breeding — finds a study of three critically endangered Asian vultures: Oriental White-backed vulture (Gyps bengalensis), Long-billed vulture (Gyps indicus) and Slender-billed vulture (Gyps tenuirostris).

A DNA analysis of 153 vultures caught from the wild for captive breeding centres of Bombay Natural History Society revealed that a large proportion was unrelated and that possibility of inbreeding was low. The results were published in the journal Animal Conservation.

The genetic data from these captive populations indicate that there is no difference in levels of their genetic diversity prior to or after their decline, lead author Farah Ishtiaq of the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore told this Correspondent.

“It also implies that the remaining wild populations may also maintain such genetic diversity,” she said.

South Asia’s vulture population fell precipitously mainly due to an anti-inflammatory drug called diclofenac once routinely administered on cattle. Vultures that scavenged on cattle carcasses that contained traces of the drug often died from toxicity and kidney failure.

The Oriental White-backed vulture, once considered the most common large bird of prey in the world, declined by 99 per cent between 1990 and 2007. The populations of Long-billed and Slender-billed vultures similarly declined to just 2.5 and 2.3 per cent of their population during the same period.

Currently, an estimated 10,000 Oriental white-backed, 30,000 Long-billed, 1,000 Slender-billed vultures exist in the country.

“'Recent success with breeding of all three species in captivity, decrease in diclofenac incidence in ungulate carcasses and significant slowing of vulture declines in the wild suggest that large-scale re-introductions of Gyps vultures may very soon be possible,” says the paper.

Vultures will perhaps never return to their original populations, but even if they reach 30-40 per cent of their former abundance in, say, three decades, then they will return to their all important ecological role as keystone scavengers, Dr Ishtiaq said.

Behavioural change critical

That high toilet coverage without concomitant utilisation of the facilities at a very high level and washing hands with soap will not bring about a reduction in diarrhoeal episodes and worm infestation, or any improvement in nutrition and growth, has been clearly brought out in a study undertaken in rural Odisha. The study involved about 4,600 households from 50 villages grouped in an intervention arm and about 4,900 households from 50 villages in a control group; there were nearly 25,000 individuals in each group. The coverage of toilets shot up from 9 per cent to 63 per cent among those in the intervention arm within 18 months, compared with an increase from 8 to 12 per cent in the control villages. Eleven of the 50 villages in the intervention arm had toilet coverage of 50 per cent and above; only two villages in the control group had coverage that was this high. Despite usage at the household level in the intervention arm being 84 per cent for women and 79 for men and children, it translated to only about 50 per cent at the community level. As a result, in both the arms the number of children below five years who were affected by diarrhoea was nearly the same. There was no difference in worm infestation rates or any improvement in nutrition or growth rates, either. There was no decrease in faecal contamination of water or any significant drop in contamination of the hands of individuals.

The results of the trial should serve as a painful reminder that emphasis on high toilet coverage without ensuring very high usage will not lead to improvement in health indicators. After all, the only way to reduce the overwhelming load of diarrhoeal and other pathogenic bacteria in the environment and improve health indicators is to refrain from shedding such bacteria in the environment. The timing of the results is perfect. The government recently rolled out its ambitious Swachh Bharat Mission with the aim of ensuring a toilet in every Indian household by the end of 2019; an earlier programme primarily targeted families that were below the poverty line. Building toilets is the necessary but easier part; bringing about behavioural change is the more daunting challenge. This is amply reflected in the study, done in accordance with the government’s earlier programme. The Mission should not remain a mere infrastructure-centred programme but should give equal priority to creating awareness of the benefits of toilet usage through a massive campaign. On paper, the “top priority” of the Mission is to improve toilet usage by bringing about behavioural change. There is also a provision to “monitor usage”. It is important that such ideals get translated into discernible actions and results on the ground.

For a tree on every field boundary

Agroforestry promotes productive cropping environments, prevents deforestation, protects watersheds and enables agricultural land to withstand extreme weather events

Growing trees on farms is a triple-win strategy for combating simultaneously the challenges of increasing food production, mitigating greenhouse gases and adapting to climate change. It is an instrument of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), catapulted to centre-stage by President Obama’s launch of the Global Alliance for CSA at the World Climate Summit on September 23 at New York.

It was fitting, therefore, that “Trees for Life” was the theme of the World Agroforestry Congress held earlier this year in New Delhi. On this occasion the previous United Progressive Alliance government, supported by the National Advisory Council, unveiled the National Agroforestry Policy coinciding aptly with the International Year of Family Farming.

Benefits of tree-based farming

While planting trees on farms is as old as settled cultivation, “agroforestry” is a recently coined term derived from agriculture and forestry. It describes practices developed and employed by farmers over many centuries to cultivate trees on farmland together with crop and animal husbandry. While agroforestry comprises agriculture and forestry in seemingly separate land uses, its essence is of an integrated tree-based farming system. The science and technology, the institutions, and policy sphere of agroforestry is uniquely its own and characterised by a landscape approach.

When strategically applied on a large scale, with appropriate mix of tree species, agroforestry promotes productive and resilient cropping environments, prevents deforestation, protects watersheds and enables agricultural land to withstand extreme weather events, and climate change.

 Tree-based farming systems have significant potential to provide employment to rural and urban populations through production and industrial application 

Tree-based systems contribute robustly to livelihoods by providing both tree products and tree services. The bounties they offer include tree products such as fruit, fodder, fuel, fibre, fertilizer and timber which add to food and nutritional security, and income generation and insurance against crop failure. These products are tangible, have money value and are tradable in the markets. Trees also generate wealth through the services they provide in the form of soil and water conservation, nutrient recycling, carbon storage and biodiversity preservation. These services are intangible, not easy to quantify, and do not lend themselves to monetary valuation. At present there is no payment for eco-services provided by tree-based farming systems.

Agroforestry has significant potential to provide employment to rural and urban populations through production, industrial application and value addition ventures. Current estimates show that about 64 per cent of the country’s timber requirement is met from the trees grown on farms. Agroforestry has the potential for augmenting energy capacity through biomass, biodiesel, biochar and biogas production. It is also recognised that agroforestry is perhaps the only alternative to meeting the target of increasing forest green cover.

Despite all this, agroforestry has not become the movement it should have. For a long time the subject fell between the cracks of “agriculture” and “forestry” with no ownership by either sector. The value and position of agroforestry in the national system remains ambiguous and undervalued. It has been disadvantaged by adverse policies and legal bottlenecks. Its adoption by tenant-farmers is constrained due to insecurity of tenure. The subject lies fragmented in several Ministries with hardly any mechanism for convergence and coordination. Inadequate investment in the sector is also a cause for neglect. Unlike the credit and insurance products available for the crop sector, the provisions for growing trees-on-farms are minimal. Weak marketing infrastructure, absence of price discovery mechanisms and lack of post-harvest processing technologies further compound the situation.

Wood Based Industries (WBI) have played an important role in the promotion of agroforestry and economy in Punjab, Haryana, western U.P and in Uttarakhand. However, over the years, the regulations governing the WBI have become stringent. The procedure for setting up new units is cumbersome.

The way forward

The National Agroforestry Policy has pointed the way forward to foster innovation in tree-based farming systems, among various stakeholders.

For lawmakers this would mean amending unfavourable legislation and simplifying regulations related to forestry and agriculture. Policymakers are to incorporate agroforestry in all policies relating to land use and natural resource management, and encourage government investments in agroforestry-related infrastructure, research and education and in the establishment of sustainable enterprises. Development administrators are to develop an institutional framework to ensure coordination between various elements of agroforestry scattered in existing missions and programmes. Farmers are to demand improved agroforestry science and technology from the public research and extension systems, loan and insurance products from financial institutions, and adopt suitable varieties and agronomic practices. Scientists and researchers are to develop location-specific tree-based technologies that complement the crop and livestock systems for sustainable livelihoods, factor in gender concerns, and incorporate the feedback from local communities.

Extension agents, NGOs and farmer organisations are to demonstrate new technologies, build capacities of farmers and help in linking producers to markets and value chains. The private sector is to invest in agroforestry both as a commercial enterprise as well as through the route of Corporate Social Responsibility. Finally, the media is to communicate the benefits of agroforestry to user communities.

Farmers have encapsulated the essence of agroforestry in a pithy slogan “har medh par pedh”(trees on every field boundary). It is time for others to turn over a new leaf. The challenge now lies in the detail of crafting a road map for the implementation of the National Agroforestry Policy by the new government.

India and Finland signed 19 agreements

HELSINKI: India and Finland on Wednesday signed 19 agreements including one for peaceful use of nuclear energy as well as management of radioactive waste from atomic power plants as President Pranab Mukherjee began his two-day visit to the key Scandinavian country.
The president, who arrived here last night, began his visit to Finland after inspecting a guard of honour which was followed by a one-to-one meeting with his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto and delegation-level talks.
The agreement for nuclear cooperation was signed by Indian ambassador to Finland Ashok Kumar and director general of Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland Petteri Tiippana in presence of Mukherjee and Niinisto.
The arrangement for cooperation between the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board of India and the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland will ensure cooperation in the field of nuclear and radiation safety regulation concerning exchange of information personnel related to the peaceful use of nuclear energy and radiation related to nuclear installations, radiation and nuclear safety including radioactive waste management, safety related issues and research.
It will also cover radiation safety, emergency preparedness, and radioactive waste management associated with the operation of nuclear power plants.
Immediately after the signing ceremony, the Finnish president underlined the importance of India in the world order and said his country was keenly observing the 'Make in India' policy announced recently and also that the two sides had agreed for doubling the trade from existing USD 1.5 billion to USD 3 billion in next three years.
While backing India's candidature in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the Finnish president said there was an immediate need for expanding the world body's top organ and it should include countries like India.
Talking about the relevance of the UN in present crisis in Syria and West Asia, Finland's president said, "Unfortunately, the UN has not been capable of giving a clear answer to situation in Syria or Ukraine. The Finnish perception is that we consider that veto right in Security Council is one obstacle that makes decision making in the UN very difficult indeed".
"We also see that UNSC should be enlarged by including countries like India," he said.
The two countries signed MoUs in the fields of science and technology, defence and education.
It included an agreement on exemption of visa requirement for holders of diplomatic and official passports which will help to promote bilateral relations by facilitating the travel of diplomatic and official passport holders.
Under Statement of Intent (SoI) between Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) and Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), both institutions will explore opportunities for cooperation in the field of defence research and development.
An MoU between Indian Council for Medical Research and Research Council of Norway was also signed aimed at encouraging research in a range of health-related areas of mutual interest, including human vaccines, infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance.
The agreement shall promote direct cooperation within the field being organised through joint calls and funding for research proposals/projects as well as facilitating exchange of scientists and scientific information.
Enlisting the areas in which India and Norway have a rewarding trade partnership including oil exploration and scientific research, Mukherjee said both the sides are keen to expand the scope of their collaborative efforts in earth sciences, bio-technology, clean energy, fishing and health care.
"I am confident that the bilateral agreements that we have signed will lead to further fruitful engagement in the many fields where India and Norway have obvious complementarities," the president said.
"We are grateful for your endorsement of India's rightful claim to Permanent Membership of the United Nations Security Council and for your proactive efforts that helped India achieve Observer status in the Arctic Council," he added.
The President said Norway will soon feature in the list of a few countries whose nationals get Visa on Arrival (VoA) facility in India.
The Indian government had in January 2010 launched VoA scheme to attract more foreign tourists to India. Initially the scheme was introduced for citizens of Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore visiting India for tourism purposes.
The Government later extended this scheme to the citizens of Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos, Myanmar and South Korea.
"We also need to create an ecosystem that shall facilitate exchange of students and faculty between our two countries and also nurture innovation and enterprise through joint courses and degrees," he said.

Armed Forces under ‘Op Lehar’

The relief operations by the Armed Forces under ‘Op Lehar’ is now getting focussed on Visakhapatnam, the worst affected district by cyclone storm ‘Hudhud’. The relief material especially food packets and readymade food is now being airlifted by IAF aircraft and helicopter from Vijayawada (41 tonnes) and Rajamundry (17 tonnes) for Visakhapatnam. In addition, 3 community kitchens are also being run by naval authorities at Visakhapatnam and two each at Bhimunipatnam, Arakapalli, Visakhapatnam Airport and Seetamdhra. Food prepared in these kitchens are being distributed to the affected people at various food supply distribution points in the affected area. In the far flung areas like Rambilli, food packets have been air dropped through helicopters.



The roads from Naval Base and Bhimunipatnam to Visakhapatnam city have now been cleared with the help of the Army and Naval teams. The clearance of the arterial roads from Visakhapatnam city to NH-5 is under progress. The Naval airfield at INS Dega and the Naval port are now fully functional. The heavy lift aircraft of IAF like C-17 Globemaster, alongwith C-130 Hercules and AN-32 are now bringing in the much needed food supplies directly to Visakhapatnam/Dega airfield, along with other heavy equipment, which are required for restoration of essential services.



So far the Indian Army has rescued a total of 272 people and the Indian Air Force has flown a total of 50 sorties to airlift 144.5 tonnes of relief material to Visakhapatnam and other affected areas.

PSLV-C26 Successfully Launches India's Third Navigation Satellite IRNSS-1C

ISRO`s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C26, successfully launched IRNSS-1C, the third satellite in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), in the early morning hours of today (October 16, 2014) at 0132 hours IST from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. This is the twenty seventh consecutively successful mission of PSLV. The `XL`configuration of PSLV was used for this mission. Previously, the same configuration of the vehicle was successfully used six times. Minister of State (Space), Dr Jitendra Singh, witnessed the launch from the Mission Control Centre at SDSC, Sriharikota. After the lift-off of PSLV-C26 with the ignition of the first stage, the important flight events, namely, stage and strap-on ignitions, heat-shield separation, stage and strap-on separations and satellite injection, took place as planned. After a flight of about 20 minutes 18 seconds, IRNSS-1C Satellite, weighing 1425 kg, was injected to an elliptical orbit of 282.56 km X 20,670 km, which is very close to the intended orbit. After injection, the solar panels of IRNSS-1C were deployed automatically. ISRO`s Master Control Facility (at Hassan, Karnataka) assumed the control of the satellite. In the coming days, four orbit manoeuvres will be conducted from Master Control Facility to position the satellite in the Geostationary Orbit at 83 deg East longitude. IRNSS-1C is the third of the seven satellites constituting the space segment of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. IRNSS-1A and IRNSS-1B, the first two satellites of the constellation, were successfully launched by PSLV on July 02, 2013 and April 04, 2014 respectively. Both IRNSS-1A and 1B are functioning satisfactorily from their designated geosynchronous orbital positions. IRNSS is an independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide position information in the Indian region and 1500 km around the Indian mainland. IRNSS would provide two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Services (SPS) - provided to all users – and Restricted Services (RS), provided to authorised users. A number of ground stations responsible for the generation and transmission of navigation parameters, satellite control, satellite ranging and monitoring, etc., have been established in as many as 15 locations across the country. In the coming months, the next satellite of this constellation, namely, IRNSS-1D, is scheduled to be launched by PSLV. The entire IRNSS constellation of seven satellites is planned to be completed by 2015.