Questions tagged [nuclear-power]
Questions about generation of heat and power by nuclear phenomena, usually but not limited to radioactive decay (fission reactions). For weapons relying on nuclear phenomena, consider [weapons] and [weapon-mass-destruction] instead.
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Everything has a tiny nuclear reactor in it. How much of a concern are illegal nuclear bombs?
In this world, basically every structure (building, factory, car, etc...) has a tiny nuclear reactor in it, and operates like a nuclear submarine. There isn't even an electrical grid; every structure ...
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How long can nuclear power plants last without the power grid and humanity? [duplicate]
Here is the question: "Following an immediate, irreversible collapse of the power grid and the medium-term (few decades) disappearance of humanity, would would happen to nuclear power plants?&...
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Is there any version of an ion drive, fictional or not, that would be able to create torchship-like acceleration for interplanetary travel? [closed]
Im trying to find a way to get a torch-ship up to some 0.x % of lightspeed with a ion-thrust like engine.
Let assume power is a non-issue, unless its becoming absurd (it makes no sense to propel a ...
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How big should this starship's power system be?
I have a near future starship that weighs about 10,000 tons. I've determined that the ship needs a 500 megawatt fission reactor, but the problem is that even though nuclear fuel rods are obscenely ...
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What noise would a nuclear gas turbine make? [closed]
At the core of the powerpacks of the upcoming generation of powered exoskeletons are dusty plasma fission fragment reactors, in which nanoparticles of nuclear fuel inside a vacuum undergo a fission ...
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What will happen to nuclear power stations / reactors if chain reaction suddenly stops to provide energy?
What will happen to reactors if nuclear fission chain reactions in some specific areas will just stop working?
Other types of nuclear phenomena (ones with gamma rays, positrons,etc) are still in ...
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The late-victorian nuclear-thruster
Nuclear fission! How hard can that be? Nuclear reactors have been quietly humming under the earth's surface only a few billion years ago after all.
It's very convenient then, that my planet's quite a ...
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Could a steam-age civilization trial-and-error their way to a nuclear reactor if they had access to enough fissile material?
I think this boils down to a question of how much fundamental understanding is needed to build a very basic nuclear reactor to boil water.
If fissile material was readily available to an otherwise ...
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Can You Make A Tiny Nuclear Reactor By Employing Supercritical Conditions For Brief Periods Of Time?
The idea is that you would have pieces of plutonium or U233 close enough that if left to their own devices they should go supercritical in a fraction of a second. However, in between the pieces you ...
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Feasibility of Tiny Nuclear Engines
In this setting nuclear material is incredibly cheap, while all hydrocarbons need to be synthesized from scratch. Additionally people have shadow magic which allows them to both easily shield against ...
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What sort of nuclear-based transportation would be best suited to cheaply transporting large amount of cargo if radiation weren't a concern?
In this scenario people are in a constant war on an infinite flat world with the geography of Antarctica's interior (but with no liquid water or hydrocarbons). Notably this world has an abundance of ...
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The Frozen Star - Can U-238 reactors be used as a energy source for 10,000 years?
I was watching this Minecraft Animation video based on a scientific concept about what would happen if we froze the Sun - What happens if we Freeze The Sun- Portrayed by Minecraft.
In this video, ...
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Could a sufficiently heavy element serve as a muon source to catalyze nuclear fusion?
I have lately been researching methods of "cold fusion", or fusion reactions which do not generate much waste heat, for use as a spacecraft power system (my propulsion system idea is ...
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Nuclear Piston Engine - Is it possible?
While researching unique methods of nuclear energy generation and propulsion, I encountered many things, both in rocketry and aerospace. For instance, the nuclear thermal jet engine. However, I found ...
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Power Source in VENUS [closed]
**What is the best Power Source to use in VENUS to generate electrical Power by using the properties of the VENUS land? **
I was thinking about the RTG but I found a lot of disadvantages of it.
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How effectively recover enriched uranium from nuclear impact site?
In the world(not Earth, but eath-like), I am building there was a nuclear exchange recently. Recently, I mean 25(subject to change) years into the past. I am describing a small clump of cities near ...
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For how much and for how long would a "Closed Cycle Nuclear Thermal Rocket Engine" generate thrust for a floating ship?
Context/TLDR:
The "Closed Cycle Nuclear Thermal Rocket Engine" is just a big nuclear steam engine that in this specific case, uses the (non radioactive) water steam to stay in air, at the ...
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Is a Nuclear Thermal Propelled Submarine Possible?
So I've recently read about NTR's and how they can be applied in space. Here is a link to the website that I've looked at: http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/enginelist2.php#ntrsolidcore
It ...
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In this alternate history, what great 19th century mind would most likely create the first nuclear powered engine?
I’m bringing nuclear power to the 19th century and need to know who had the tools and connections to become the 19th century “Father of nuclear power.”
Background: The Real World
Raw, unenriched ...
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Unforeseen Consequences of Limiting Nuclear Fission
From my understanding nuclear fission takes place in two different scenarios and correlates with the speed of a neutron. In terms of material, we have fissionable material which undergo nuclear ...
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How might nuclear power have never been developed?
I've been thinking about a world in which nuclear power and nuclear weapons were never developed. What kind of mechanism would allow this to be possible?
Nuclear weapons seem the easiest option, with ...
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How to cool Venusian atmosphere down?
Carbon dioxide dominates the Venusian atmosphere. While I think it is possible to use the thermal energy in the atmosphere to split carbon dioxide to carbon and oxygen, the process may be too slow to ...
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With modern-day/near-future (i.e. potentially realizable within 20 years) technology, can a nuclear reactor with these characteristics be built?
I'm writing about a nuclear-powered tank. Yes, I know about what the problems associated with it are. No, the people in the setting don't care about radioactive contamination of their environment, or ...
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Can we fulfill the world electricity production by nuclear power? [closed]
Nuclear energy is a form of energy released from the nucleus, the core of atoms, made up of protons and neutrons. In today's world has 450 commercial nuclear power reactors operable in 30 countries.
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What type of safety features would a commercial nuclear jet aircraft have?
Let's say that you have a commercially/privately-operated jet aircraft. It's not something that's going to be used by a single pilot, or someone making mail runs, or a bush pilot; it's more of the ...
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How much thermal energy, in joules per centimeter squared, is required to ignite common aerospace materials?
How much thermal energy, measured in joules per centimeter squared, would be required to:
melt (or ignite, if possible) commonly-used commercial airliner paint
melt (or ignite, if possible) commonly ...
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Why would NSWR's be used when Orion drives are around?
In the setting I'm making, Orion drives are one of the primary forms of propulsion used in spacecraft. I have been thinking of adding Nuclear Salt Water Rockets (the lithium variety) alongside Orion ...
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How self-sufficient a fast breeder nuclear power plant can be in a post-apocalyptic setting?
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The full society collapse is starting, and a group of people know it. It may or may not lead to a total extinction event. They can't protect a whole city but a couple of hectares is doable. ...
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How would the sudden disappearance of nuclear weapons and power plants affect Earth geopolitics?
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The setting is Earth in 2021 OTL. An invisible space station of an arbitrarily advanced alien civilization is orbiting around Earth keeping watch on humanity. The aliens have determined that ...
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Could a pebble-bed reactor provide sporadic power for millions of years?
The device needed is a monitoring system. Aliens leave a probe on Earth or orbiting Earth, which typically lies dormant, but it awakes every 1,000 years or so to check life's status on Earth.
There's ...
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