why outer space?

phoebos@... wrote:

> I thought Nasa had developed the nuclear power plants for the deep space
> probes to be extremely safe, even in the event of a midlaunch breakup.
> Is this an untruth on their part? The plutonium is encased in hard
> ceramic spheres, to ensure that even if it broke up, the danger of
> direct plutonium poisoning is negligible. Besides, the surface of the
> moon is a pretty radioactive place anyways. If we cannt consider the
> possibility of using one there , then what the hell are we doing
> mounting these things on gigantic shells filled with volatiles and
> igniting it?

I'd never noticed that that was dangerous! Gee do you think?

;-)