The main problem is that most of those projects require a modern, or even post-modern understanding of the physics involved combined with near-future materials sciences. In other words, not something feasible for the nineteen-forties.
1940s
In 1942, nuclear fusion research was subsumed into the
Manhattan Project and the science became obscured by the
secrecy surrounding the field. The first patent related to a fusion reactor was registered in 1946
[26] by the
United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, the inventors being
Sir George Paget Thomson and
Moses Blackman. This was the first detailed examination of the
Z-pinch concept, and small efforts to experiment with it started at several sites in the UK.
Pinch was first developed in the UK in the immediate post-war era. Starting in 1947 small experiments were carried out and plans were laid to build a much larger machine. Two teams were quickly formed and began a series of ever-larger experiments. When the Huemul results hit the news,
James L. Tuck, a UK physicist working at Los Alamos, introduced the pinch concept in the US and produced a series of machines known as the
Perhapsatron. In the Soviet Union, unbeknownst to the west, a series of similar machines were being built. All of these devices quickly demonstrated a series of instabilities when the pinch was applied, which broke up the plasma column long before it reached the densities and temperatures required for fusion. In 1953 Tuck and others suggested a number of solutions to these problems.
A major area of study in early fusion power research is the "
pinch" concept. Pinch is based on the fact that plasmas are electrically conducting. By running a current through the plasma, a magnetic field will be generated around the plasma. This field will, according to
Lenz's law, create an inward directed force that causes the plasma to collapse inward, raising its density. Denser plasmas generate denser magnetic fields, increasing the inward force, leading to a
chain reaction. If the conditions are correct, this can lead to the densities and temperatures needed for fusion. The difficulty is getting the current into the plasma, which would normally melt any sort of mechanical
electrode. A solution emerges again due to the conducting nature of the plasma; by placing the plasma in the middle of an
electromagnet,
induction can be used to generate the current.
So yes, there is already someone working on fusion in this time period.
Farnsworth, the guy who made the Fusor? He got his idea from studying
vacuum tubes.
EDIT: You already mentioned Thorium based fission...my bad.
Any way, main reason I'm after fusion? It's not hedging into the power supply profits, but rather getting a relatively small (in comparision anyway) fusion reactor is pretty important for an interstellar warship (just in case), fission generates too much radiation, which in turn needs radiation shielding, which in turn increases the mass of the ship, decreasing it's acceleration.
Also, if we crack Bussard ramscoop tech, along with fusion fuel refinement, we could essensially have ships that only need to orbit a gas giant or get 'close' to a sun for a few days, pick up all the needed fuel and carry on going.
EDIT2: It should be noted that the 'Z-pinch' method of fusion has been classed as a failure, due to plasma taking straight paths when at high speed/current, which causes heat loss due to the fact that Z-pinch machines are torus shaped.
Basically it's because of these that we have Tomahak fusion/plasma generators.
The U.S. tested the concept... for years, the project wasn't shut down until the sixties. Pretty much the only reason we didn't have a bitchin' nuclear-powered spaceship back then is because some asshat proposed they make a massive space battleship, which not only would have been prohibitively expensive, it also would have seriously pissed off Russia; which wasn't a smart thing to do during the Cold War.
