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Yeah. Nuclear may not make sense here on Earth -- even Antarctica -- where the environmental and human health consequences are practically unavoidable (especial

by ncphil 5y ago

Yeah. Nuclear may not make sense here on Earth -- even Antarctica -- where the environmental and human health consequences are practically unavoidable (especially when implemented by the lowest bidder), but space outside of LEO is another matter. NASA is in fact looking at it. https://cen.acs.org/energy/nuclear-power/NASA-thinks-nuclear-reactors-supply/98/i19 https://cen.acs.org/energy/nuclear-power/NASA-thinks-nuclear.... Although the idea of migrating researchers to a sunlit base when night falls at their primary base has potential, it's probably going to be more practical to stand up a whopping big RTG or full-on fission reactor a distance off from the habitats. Space borne fission plants are going to be necessary anyway if we're ever going to send people to the outer solar system (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune). We might as well learn how to make them work on the Moon ("It's a damned research project!").

devoutsalsa 5y ago
Nuclear is basic the safest (and climate change friendly) form of power generation am we have. Isn’t it?
- ncmncm 5y ago
  On Earth's surface? No. But various forms make sense elsewhere.
ncmncm 5y ago
A smallish chunk of Strontium-90 would safely power quite a lot of moonbase for years, as the Soviets did their remote lighthouses. Strontium-90 is the ideal radionucleide; emitting negligible gamma rays or neutrons, it just sits producing heat. For power in the cloudtops of Venus, Titan, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune, a full-scale nuclear reactor is as simple as a naked atomic pile hanging near the bottom of a big fabric tube with a wind turbine at the top, supported by a balloon. All the radiative output goes into heating the air around the pile, which rises and drives the wind turbine, which is the only moving part. On the gas giants, it would have to be supported by a hot-air balloon, because the atmosphere is hydrogen. On all four planets, surprisingly, gravity is very close to Earth-normal. (On Titan it is rather less.) Orbital velocity at the gas giants is much higher, though, so as comfortable as it might be there, it's hard to get home from them.

by ncphil 5y ago

devoutsalsa 5y ago

Nuclear is basic the safest (and climate change friendly) form of power generation am we have. Isn’t it?

ncmncm 5y ago
On Earth's surface? No. But various forms make sense elsewhere.

ncmncm 5y ago

A smallish chunk of Strontium-90 would safely power quite a lot of moonbase for years, as the Soviets did their remote lighthouses. Strontium-90 is the ideal radionucleide; emitting negligible gamma rays or neutrons, it just sits producing heat. For power in the cloudtops of Venus, Titan, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune, a full-scale nuclear reactor is as simple as a naked atomic pile hanging near the bottom of a big fabric tube with a wind turbine at the top, supported by a balloon. All the radiative output goes into heating the air around the pile, which rises and drives the wind turbine, which is the only moving part. On the gas giants, it would have to be supported by a hot-air balloon, because the atmosphere is hydrogen. On all four planets, surprisingly, gravity is very close to Earth-normal. (On Titan it is rather less.) Orbital velocity at the gas giants is much higher, though, so as comfortable as it might be there, it's hard to get home from them.