There is quite detailed Youtube teardown video from Australia on dismantling sulfur microwave lantern.
As much as we all love conspiracy theories, I believe the system was buried by pure economical reasons:
- tremendously overcomplicated! Really visible in this video. Incessant RF shields to keep microwave energy at home. Two running fans to keep the thermal mode - imagine this in an outdoor lantern!!! An extra motor just to rotate discharge bulb.
- huge bulky expensive and inefficient transformer to power magnetron
- magnetron is inefficient by iself
- magnetron has a finite life of just a few thousand hours
