Having studied Electronic Engineering in college, the data they provided does help with the design specs of the HSD. I'm sure it is alot of information to absorb but, I know it will help in understanding the operation of the HSD system. Thanks!!

Excellent report!

TCHconn: If you research ORNLs activities, you'll find that despite your assumption that all they do is make nukes, they have a wide ranging scope of research such as supercomputers and neutron sources. Incidentally, they have the fastest "public" supercomputer and the strongest neutron source in the world.

Toyota gets a lot of help from the Japanese government and the three American auto companies still have yet to produce a real hybrid that is comparable to the Prius, Camry, etc.

Our dependence on oil is an issue of national security and economic stability!!! American auto companies are reluctant to venture into high-risk research areas due to risk of investment losses... they can barely stay afloat as it is. This is where DOE steps in. The group that published this report also develops new motor and power electronics technologies. The info in these reports is extremely valuable in determining where the current technology is and where the goals need to be set to beat it.
I'm glad to see that the funding was not just pooped away and that a very valiant effort was made.

I was concerned that my comments might be taken a little more strongly than intended.

"Nuke-grade lab" was a compliment to Oak Ridge (heck, they contributed to winning a war -- let alone trying to break free from foreign oil).

And, as a graduate from a technical university that both receives funding from corporate research as well as contributes to the overall body of global knowledge, I even encourage my company to fund university research.

I also acknowledged in the original post that reverse engineering goes on -- but I'm still personally off-put by the fact that it wasn't by manufacturers in the privacy of their own facilities at their own risk for intellectual property abuse -- but IMHO, this was an excellent report under sanction of Uncle Sam to a depth that those "mere mortal" manufacturers might not have access to.

Governments invest in their own "greater good" advancement all the time... (hmmm, which is a better example here... man on the moon or porn on the Internet?).

But I do want to be clear that I wasn't 'dissing' Oak Ridge or the expansion of greater global knowledge...