notes.husk.org

"Orion works by the (seemingly insane, but actually quite effective) method of throwing nuclear bombs..."

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 04:14:28 +0000

“Orion works by the (seemingly insane, but actually quite effective) method of throwing nuclear bombs behind the spacecraft and having it ride the blasts. The hot gasses from the detonations hit a heavy pusher plate at the back of the ship and drive it forward. NSWR [nuclear salt water rocket] is similar, but it instead uses a solution of fissionables in salt water that spontaneously explodes as it leaves the rocket nozzle. Both systems cleverly shift the propulsive reaction outside the spacecraft, eliminating the need to deal with most of the heat it produces and allowing it to be made much more energetic.”

- Memphet’ran on spacebattles.com, as featured by Sarah Pavis, guest editing kottke.org.

I’d heard of Orion, but not nuclear salt water rockets, which get impressive performance:

One design would generate 13 meganewtons of thrust at 66 km/s exhaust velocity (compared to ~4.5 km/s exhaust velocity for the best chemical rockets of today). Another design would achieve much higher exhaust velocities (4,700 km/s) and use 2,700 tonnes of highly enriched Uranium salts in water to propel a 300 tonne spacecraft up to 3.6% of the speed of light.

Of course, there are slight drawbacks to using these things in a biosphere:

a NSWR would eject massive quantities of superheated steam, still containing fissioning nuclear salts. Terrestrial testing might be subject to reasonable objections; as one physicist wrote, “Writing the environmental impact statement for such tests […] might present an interesting problem …”

National Geographic: Is Armenia’s Nuclear Plant the...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 21:17:44 +0100

National Geographic: Is Armenia’s Nuclear Plant the World’s Most Dangerous? (via):

The Metsamor power station is one of a mere handful of remaining nuclear reactors of its kind that were built without primary containment structures. All five of these first-generation water-moderated Soviet units are past or near their original retirement ages, but one salient fact sets Armenia’s reactor apart from the four in Russia.

Metsamor lies on some of Earth’s most earthquake-prone terrain.

(I note the article carries lots of advertising for an oil company. Hmm.)

Three Mile Island, circa 1980, from Postcards of Mushroom...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 02:35:24 +0100

Three Mile Island, circa 1980, from Postcards of Mushroom Clouds at Slate.

"Seventeen 803 machines were exported to America between 1960 and 1963, where they were applied to..."

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 02:38:07 +0100

“Seventeen 803 machines were exported to America between 1960 and 1963, where they were applied to on-line industrial process control - sometimes via the Panellit company under the badge of Panellit 609 computers. In the UK, a notable first for an Elliott 803 in 1960 was the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA)’s Calder Hall atomic station project at Windscale (Sellafield). The 803 provided a 24/7 logging and alarm-scanning system for the prototype Magnox gas-cooled reactor, for what became the world’s first industrial scale nuclear power station.”

- Simon Lavington on Elliott Computers, from Computer Resurrection Issue 42.

fuckyeahcoolingtowers: Cooling tower of the experimental...

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:56:05 +0100

fuckyeahcoolingtowers:

Cooling tower of the experimental THTR-300 thorium reactor, Germany (via)

"The environment movement has a choice. It has to decide whether it wants no new fossil fuels or no..."

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:33:05 +0000

“The environment movement has a choice. It has to decide whether it wants no new fossil fuels or no new nuclear power. It cannot have both. I know which side I’m on, and I know why.”

- George Monbiot in the conclusion to No Primrose Path, his post (also on the Guardian) about why he co-signed a letter to David Cameron urging him to support nuclear power (and to ignore the letter suggesting otherwise from four former directors of Friends of the Earth).

berkeley nuclear power station by smallritual on...

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 03:40:59 +0000

berkeley nuclear power station by smallritual on Flickr.

Apparently, “only the sealed reactor core [is] left now”.

lomokev: Luca Zanie (via Energy meets art with photographer...

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:44:48 +0000

lomokev:

Luca Zanie (via Energy meets art with photographer Luca Zanier (Wired UK))

“Here we are at the heart of the nuclear-power plant,” says Zanier. “I visited many of the control rooms – most were dull, but this one is special and strange. A lot of my friends asked me whether I had manipulated this photograph.”

That’s nice, that.

"Remember, over 5,000 people died in one night in London in the 1950s from coal-smoke poisoning."

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:09:00 +0000

“Remember, over 5,000 people died in one night in London in the 1950s from coal-smoke poisoning.”

- James Lovelock in the Independent’s You Ask The Questions section, in response to being asked why he’s in favour of nuclear power (via jim-in-austin)