DailyDirt: Nuclear Power In Space

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Nuclear energy usually has a significant NIMBY problem (Not In My Back Yard!) that prevents nuclear power plants from being constructed. There's no simple solution to this obstacle, and even when the reactor is going to be thousands (or millions) of miles away from any people in a spacecraft, the danger of launching a nuclear reactor on a rocket is still too risky for some folks. There haven't been any nuclear disasters in space, but as more and more nuclear powered spacecraft are built, the anti-nuclear groups may grow increasingly loud. Here are just a few nuclear spacecraft projects that could travel beyond our planet. If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: duff, energy, fission, nimby, nuclear, plutonium, radioactive materials, space, spacecraft, stirling engine, uranium
Companies: doe, nasa


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Anonymous, 18 Nov 2013 @ 5:09pm

    Wow, a whopping 3.3 pounds in a year! And how much is THAT going to cast the taxpayers, I wonder?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous, 18 Nov 2013 @ 5:10pm

    Re:

    * cost (not cast)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 18 Nov 2013 @ 8:01pm

    Plutonium is not in short supply

    there a shit load of it hanging around, what do you think is inside of those nukes that are capable of destroying the world a 1000 times over ?

    They have not produced much since 1980 because they don't need too.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. icon
    Paraquat (profile), 18 Nov 2013 @ 8:24pm

    Re: Plutonium is not in short supply

    There is a sh*tload of Plutonium-239, but a dire shortage of Plutonium-238. They are different isotopes, with very different properties.

    Despite its nasty reputation for being carcinogenic and toxic (plus the prime ingredient for making atomic bombs), Plutonium-239 is not very radioactive. In fact, you could pick up a chunk the size of a golf ball and hold it in your hands safely. I would suggest you wear rubber gloves though, not because of radioactivity, but because you wouldn't want any of the metal to rub off onto your skin and work its way through into your blood stream. Pu-239 is a heavy metal poison with devastating effects if it enters your blood stream. Which is why its a nuclear waste problem - you don't want it leaking into water supplies, for example. Plutonium 239 has a very long half-life (24,000 years).

    Plutonium-238, on the other hand, is highly radioactive, but with a short half-life (88 years). It puts out considerable decay heat, which is perfect for powering RTGs (radioisotope thermoelectric generators). NASA uses RTGs for powering all deep space probes.

    Give the Wikipedia page a read:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium-238

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 18 Nov 2013 @ 10:03pm

    NASA should try thorium to jump start that technology.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    yaac, 19 Nov 2013 @ 4:38am

    Timely Nasa decision

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. icon
    kP (profile), 19 Nov 2013 @ 7:05am

    Re:

    Is "thorium" your word of the day?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. icon
    RyanNerd (profile), 19 Nov 2013 @ 7:06am

    DUFF, Isn't that a brand of beer?

    I'm quite sure it is.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 19 Nov 2013 @ 11:57am

    But there could be a meltdown and it would get radiation all over space!!!

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.