Bill: Message #1314

--- In spacesettlers@y..., Ryan Healey wrote:
> Of course Pu-238 is not easy to make and costs a lot of money,
although RPGs could use Sr-90 which is a very large component of
nuclear waste and almost as good as Pu-238 (plus it doesn't have the
bad undeserved repuation of Pu).
>
> It would need more powerful rockets, but with space infrastructure
it would be cheaper to use it on deep space probes (past Jupiter) then Pu.

I'm probably going to have to research this, but does anyone else
recall hearing about using Americium for spacecraft nuclear
propulsion? (I believe that's the element past plutonium.) IIRC the
big advantage of Am over Pu was that Am reactors could be thin sheets,
thus being lightweight for spacecraft.

BTW, I consider myself a moderate in regard to nuclear power. I think
you should use nuclear when you really need that kind of power, for
example, interstellar ships. But I consider it a real waste of a
nonrenewable resource to use nuclear power to heat people's coffee or
keep their TVs ready to turn on immediately.

++JohnWheeler