Nuclear Power ...

[trikkonceptz]

Now unfortunately we are still not at a time where we can go to Walmart and purchase plutonium, but has anyone even heard of any strides to make nuclear powered cars?

I know it sounds scary, but the military has been using nuclear power for over 50 years without incident. And if you scale down the demand from an aircraft carrier to a 2000 lb car it is easy to see that it would take very little to power a vehicle endlessly. Plus I am sure we would not have to use weapons grade Uranium to make this happen.

I know it can be engineered so we don't carry mini dirty nuclear bombs in our trunks or fear it in case of accident. Or is the threat of someone buying up used nuclear powered cars in order to create a bomb to great?

I mean terrorist attack aside, lol, there is a power source than can power anything for a life span longer than the mechanical imits of the device. And if designed universally, as you buy a new car you simply take your power supply with you and plop it in the next vehicle.

I know to forward thinking and innocent considering the state of the world we live in, ahh but to dream I guess...

[Duffman]

It wont happen. Nuclear materials are closely gaurded and restricted who they are traded too.

[metroschultz]

Also ,
The mechanicals of Nuke Power are far greater than the average car can carry,
The Army tried for years to make a unit small enough to power an M1 Tank, no luck. If the technology was sufficient we would have nuke power planes and tanks for the armed services.
Great idea though. I heard of one of the Universities trying to get a grant to attempt to drag electricity straight from U238. I lost track so I don't know what happened.
That would have been your Mr. Fusion power plant.
S.

[Jon M]

Nuke powered cars won't happen in our great great great grandchildren's lifetime.

Yet, we could all recharge our electric cars off of nuke power plants for a LONG time.

[Yaristock]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Nucleon
Unfortunately it never made it to production. I'd rather have an electric car neways.

[trikkonceptz]

And that was 50 years ago .... imagine the possibilities today. As it has been said, since this technology is primarily government controled, there would be very little hope of it making it out to the public.

[Duffman]

Originally Posted by metroschultz

The Army tried for years to make a unit small enough to power an M1 Tank, no luck. If the technology was sufficient we would have nuke power planes and tanks for the armed services.

The reason nukes work for ships is that they run long periods at constant loads. Think of the nuclear power industry and how long it takes to get a plant up and running again when they take it offline. Imagine the heat wasted while idling cars contantly for 5 years time.

[trikkonceptz]

Why would that be wasted time when life expectancy is in the hundreds of years? You could almost will your power supply to future generations before it goes bad ...

[dcb]

Originally Posted by trikkonceptz

I know it sounds scary, but the military has been using nuclear power for over 50 years without incident.

it is scary that some of nukes proponents could be that naive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...lear_accidents

[Duffman]

Originally Posted by trikkonceptz

Why would that be wasted time when life expectancy is in the hundreds of years? You could almost will your power supply to future generations before it goes bad ...

Not wasted time but wasted energy. It would be like running your car full throttle (non-stop) until it ran out of gas, but the gas tank doesnt last you a few hours but a few years. Plus all that heat around would be bad for the enviroment and pretty unpleasant in heavy traffic.

Also they could make the refilling period anything they wanted, I would think they would give you more fuel than a reasonable amount.

[SatanicMechanic]

I think every city should have a nuclear power plant. If you need the megawatts, which the U.S. needs badly, go nuclear. Sadly the U.S. has not built generation to meet demand and the transmission infrastructure here is in dire need of improvement.

[metroschultz]

You said it SM we are in need of an overhaul.
But to the point, Nuke won't work in a car cause you need tons( 7 of them in a Carrier) of plumbing to make a reactor produce electricity. That does not include the water to water Heat exchangers (at least 2) and so on.
A nuclear pwowered car would be 100 feet long, 10 feet wide, 14 feet tall and weigh 45,000 pounds.
Where are you going to drive that?
In the OutBack of Australia, thats where.
And God help us if you have an accident.
Mad Max would have your @$$.
S.

[dcb]

Originally Posted by SatanicMechanic

I think every city should have a nuclear power plant..

LOL, sorry, reminded me of a scene in Repo Man from J. Frank Parnell about radiation

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Repo_Man#J._Frank_Parnell (warning, not kid safe)

[Big Dave]

Anybody seem the pictures of the Bussard fusion reactor? They say it more than breaks even.

I am skeptical. Where is the neutron flux? How do you keep the reaction going without high-energy neutron.

Still it is small - about the size of a ping-pong paddle.

I hope it works but generally, if somethings seems too good to be true...