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Stories filed under: "plutonium"

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.

• NASA and DOE researchers have tested a new nuclear reactor design for spacecraft called the Demonstration Using Flattop Fissions (DUFF) experiment. This reactor relies on the heat from uranium fission to power a Stirling engine and can generate 24 watts of electricity. [url]
• Plutonium is the fissile material of choice for a lot of NASA spacecraft, but the US hasn’t produced much plutonium-238 since the 1980s. NASA could get a fresh supply, though, if the DOE continues its experiments for producing plutonium-238 at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee — which could produce about 3.3 pounds per year. [url]
• NASA has extensively tested its nuclear battery designs by smashing them and detonating them to assess their safety. If a nuclear-powered probe were to explode on the launchpad (or at any stage of getting into orbit or beyond), it’s unlikely that the radioactive material would cause much destruction. [url]

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

DailyDirt: Nuclear Batteries Last A Long Time

from the urs-we-dig-up dept

Battery technology is a significant bottleneck for a lot of gadgets, and the limitations of batteries even prevent the widespread adoption of renewable energy solutions. Storing energy efficiently and safely is just a difficult problem. Quite a few energy storage solutions have been proposed, ranging from giant flywheels to burying pressurized air. One far out option that doesn’t get much attention is the nuclear battery, so here are just a few links on this obscure technology with a decently long half-life.

• Physicists have successfully captured and observed ions from an unstable isotope of bismuth which could help predict further nuclear reactions and lead to a practical nuclear battery. Being able to control a trapped form of nuclear energy is critical to the development of nuclear batteries that could hold a million times more energy than a conventional battery. [url]
• Both of the Voyager spacecrafts are powered by radioisotope thermionic generators that have lasted for decades without any moving parts or maintenance. No one is going to start using the heat of decaying plutonium-238 for powering any terrestrial gadgets any time soon, but these power plants are definitely reliable. [url]
• A thumb-sized battery called the NanoTritium could last 20 years or more, but it only delivers nanowatts of power. This betavoltaic power source will be commercially available, but it won’t be cheap at over $1,000 per battery. [url]

If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: battery, bismuth, energy, isotope, nanotritium, nuclear, plutonium, power, thermionic generator, tritium, voyager