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I believe the USSR installed nuclear reactors in unmanned lighthouses along its remote northern coast. I don’t know if that’s as far north as McMurdo station is
by Xophmeister 5y ago
I believe the USSR installed nuclear reactors in unmanned lighthouses along its remote northern coast. I don’t know if that’s as far north as McMurdo station is south. I also suppose, with them being unmanned, they may have had less strict safety requirements.
- jackdeansmith 5y agoThose are RTGs that harvest a couple hundred watts of decay heat for really remote applications. Often used in space probes, etc... Bit of a different safety profile since they're low power and generally don't have any moving parts.
- lightgreen 5y ago> since they're low power and generally don't have any moving parts Rather since they don't have a critical mass/configuration which makes them impossible to explode.
- jackdeansmith 5y agoRight, yeah that's more important, there's no way to get a runaway chain reaction with an RTG