nuclear power plant

i think the japanese problems are a chance for the industry to learn to make nuclear power even safer, don't forget the earthquake and tsunami were way bigger than anyone anticipated. here in australia people are completely against nuclear power and i think it will cost us in the long run, all these new carbon tax rules that are coming in are going to make our dirty coal power very expensive. the idea of clean nuc power really appeals to me and a lot of other people i have spoken to. a recent survey conducted on wind and solar power for australia concluded that they are just not viable on their own.

 

Thanks for the additional info. The only small correction: I was talking about RHU's, because the thread starter talked about steam production, and it doesn't require a conversion to electric energy via thermocouples. What you're talking about is Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG), which is essentially a RHU with a thermocouple electricity generator.

For those interested in history of the use of atomic energy for space exploration, there is a nicely written book, "Atomic Power in Space: A History", which can be downloaded from the US DOE site: http://www.osti.gov/cgi-bin/rd_accomplishments/display_biblio.cgi?id=ACC0006&numPages=188&fp=N

Cheers

 

i did start the thread thinking of steam power because i thought that was the only way nuclear power could rotate a shaft, i just looked up the story on the b 36, absolutely amazing for the 50's , now i understand about the extreme measures taken for the shielding which would limit the size of boat it could go in.