Forget Gasonline and CNG I want...

[bhammer]

..one of these. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-powered-car.htm And while they are at it, make one that I can put my house and boat on too.

Now, the serious question? Does anyone think this could be a possibility in the near future? I see it possible if you could use spent fuel from a plant as I think they only use about 20% of the potential energy. The largest problem I see is how do you deal with the waste?

 

[KnottyBuoyz]

Re: Forget Gasonline and CNG I want...

I remember waaaaaaaaaay back an article in Popular Mechanics on the nuclear powered home. They showed a reactor about the size of a hot water heater that supplied all the energy needs of an avg sized home. If it wasn't for the fact that the radioactive material requires a lot of heavy shielding it would probably be practical. Somethin's gotta happen soon to ween us off fossil fuels.

 

[bhammer]

Re: Forget Gasonline and CNG I want...

Ya, killing your guests and kids or making them all sterile isn't cool and that would have to be worked out. If I had the opportunity to loose a closet to put 2' think sheilding, I would in a heart beat. Or, look at it a little different, still have grid electricity and just have an adapter on the cars that allows you to power the house when you are not driving.

 

[cribber]

Re: Forget Gasonline and CNG I want...

What'd be cool is a hydrogen fuel cell for boats if they could make one large and light enough. As soon as launch your boat in the water you'll always have a full tank of fuel...

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Forget Gasonline and CNG I want...

Possible, but towing around that huge cooling tower might be problematic.

 

[KnottyBuoyz]

Re: Forget Gasonline and CNG I want...

What'd be cool is a hydrogen fuel cell for boats if they could make one large and light enough. As soon as launch your boat in the water you'll always have a full tank of fuel...

A few yrs ago the Cdn Coast Guard tried fuel cell technology in a R&D project to power small boats. At that time I think it was the Ballard fuel cells they used. I'll see if I can find the info at work on what the results were. I don't think it was good. I know they use those fuel cells to power commuter busses.

 

[SgtMaj]

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[gonefishie]

Re: Forget Gasonline and CNG I want...

Won't ever happen! How would you deal with a wreck? you would have to be a physicist to work on such vehicle. Speaking of cooling tower, does anyone know how nuclear sub cool their power plant? probably top secret stuff anyway.

 

[bhammer]

Re: Forget Gasonline and CNG I want...

The biggest problem I see, is giving the public anything with high radioactivity... 'helloooo... terror groups around the world? This is the US calling, please wipe us all out, and here, we'll GIVE you the means.'

Nope, not going to happen, ever.

I don't totally disagree with you here, but the quality of fusionable material would not be military grade. However, that wouldn't stop someone from making a dirty bomb. I'd like to point out that every home has nuclear material, or should have, and enough of it, you could make a dirty one. All the smoke detectors in your home has a small amount of material.

I see issues with any type of new technology but I don't think anything should be dismissed without fully unerstanding the risks versus rewards. I for one think there is a way to work through all the issues. They do it for military ships and subs and there is rumor that the US has given a private company the rights to design a ship using it for a corporate ship.

Will it be cheap or fall within our traditional way of thinking, probably not. They are working on some sort of bacteria that will eat the left overs and leave a half life of uner 50 years.

To me, the three largest hurdels are:
1. Dealing with theft and the energy being used against us
2. How do we get rid of the spent fuel without killing the world or just leaving it for some 50th generation to deal with.
3. Once you start it, you can't turn it off. What to do with the extra energy and the heat wasted heat.

 

[tomatolord]

Re: Forget Gasonline and CNG I want...

http://www.nextenergynews.com/news1/next-energy-news-toshiba-micro-nuclear-12.17b.html

they already exist but the the end result is electricity.

hydro=electric
coal=electric
nuclear=electric
fuel cells = electric

www.123systems.com

The answer is going to be battery technology.

Run your car far 200 miles come home charge up.

Once you get cars using batteries successfully then you the price of oil will plummet.

They say we are about 2-3 years away.

Tomato

 

[RollingWanderer]

Re: Forget Gasonline and CNG I want...

Won't ever happen! How would you deal with a wreck? you would have to be a physicist to work on such vehicle. Speaking of cooling tower, does anyone know how nuclear sub cool their power plant? probably top secret stuff anyway.

Hmm, as I recall the navy nuc subs use an ammonia based chiller system with massive heat exchangers to chill the "water" (actually mix of water and other 'stuff') that is circulated through the system for cooling. If you really want to know, I have several friends that are Nuclear Engineers for the Navy and can ask...I don't believe the cooling methods are classified. I know a bit about commercial and government nuclear plants, from my master's degree work in Radiation Physics. However, I'm really on the medical side of things.

If I could just finish my damn master's thesis, I'd be done...

-RW

 

[bhammer]

Re: Forget Gasonline and CNG I want...

There are different types of material, and not all require massive types of cooling.

 

[v1_0]

Re: Forget Gasonline and CNG I want...

The view of things is biased to "me/mine/personal" for the car concept - which has contributed to why it hasn't become a reality.

If we think of things as more "we/us" then there is a viable solution: more fixed nuclear power plants. Lower electricity cost will make electric cars more attractive to people. More electric cars will result in places finding ways to "fuel" those cars and make money. That will make electric cars more attractive to a larger number of people. etc.

The shift in thought is from each of us having our own nuclear power plant (in a car) to sharing a larger one with many people.

-V

 

[SgtMaj]

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[bhammer]

Re: Forget Gasonline and CNG I want...

... and, like someone said, car accidents would be a much bigger problem than they are today. Just think, talking on a cell phone without a handsfree device, could be considered an act of terrorism... lol

Terrorism, yup, can see that one coming.

They launch satelites into space that have reactors that are made to sustain a reentry without being damaged. I am in aviation, and we have a cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder (black boxes) and they are made to sustain an impact/fire way beyound what you would expirence in a car crash. I think it is commonly used as an excuse as we have the technology to make it secure and light.

 

[mscher]

Re: Forget Gasonline and CNG I want...

..one of these. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-powered-car.htm And while they are at it, make one that I can put my house and boat on too.

Now, the serious question? Does anyone think this could be a possibility in the near future? I see it possible if you could use spent fuel from a plant as I think they only use about 20% of the potential energy. The largest problem I see is how do you deal with the waste?

Will never happen in this country, IMO. We can't even expand or build nuclear power plants, let alone have millions of little reactors, running around.

When it comes to nuclear power, there are just as many powerful (and wealthy) groups, that are against it, as there are groups in favor of it.

When it comes to nuclear expansion, the only one's who are really benefiting, are the trial lawers.

We will be traveling in horse-and-buggy, before we have nuclear cars. ;(