New Nuclear Power Plant

[Engineer1911]

This is from 1440 news service I receive as an email. Dis-belief ! !

NASA acting administrator Sean Duffy announces fast-track plans to build a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2030; part of larger effort to build a permanent lunar base (More) | A brief history of the original space race (1440 Topics)

 

[johnjohn]

Would be money better spent if it was built down here.

 

[JimW]

 

[dockmurgw]

In many areas of this country, they can't even secure the permitting to build a Walmart by 2030.

 

[Rodan]

Space: 2039??

 

[Retired W4]

View attachment 783737

To the moon, Alice, to the moon. Right in the kisser.

Kidding aside, we will need the reactor on the moon for any sustained operation. And more nuke power here on earth would be very helpful as well.

Windmills here are almost as useless as one on the moon.

 

[tlawler]

And more nuke power here on earth would be very helpful as well.

Nah, that will just empower Elon to build more AI…he's already got another coming out of the ground now that Colossus is up and running and 5 more are already planned after that.

You Grok?

 

[WR Moore]

Dunno about the time table, but there won't be any NIMBYs on the moon. That should-somewhat-streamline the permit process. I think it was someone from the NRC who made a crack about when the weight of the paperwork matched the weight of the plant, a nuke could go online.

OK, there do have to be safeguards. There's got to be due diligence, but sometimes the amount of time, effort and paperwork (now electronic files?-does there still have to be hard copy?) over trivia is sometimes just justification of someone's job.

 

[GnarlsR2]

Building a nuclear power plant on the Moon is simply fantasy.

How would the "energy" get transferred to Earth?

The logistics alone that would be required are nearly impossible to create.

Transporting the infrastructure from Earth to the Moon would be an incalculable challenge.

The exosphere of the Moon is not breathable by humans. Robots would have to do the "work". The robots would have to be built to withstand the extreme temperatures: 260d F during they day, and -280d F at night. The average temperature is -63.4d F. What electronics will work in that temperature range? What about the 200 times more cosmic radiation on the Moon?

A nuclear power plant requires water – about 10 million gallons a day. Is there water on the Moon?

Elon's Space X traveling at 17,500 MPH requires fuel. There is no Tanker Spaceship in space to refuel Space X..

Elon's crazy vision of colonizing the planet Mars for humans will not happen in 100s of years, perhaps never.

He would be way smarter and make more money if he started by saving our planet Earth from being destroyed by greedy morons.

 

[16thVACav]

I heard the previous administration intended a similar project but planned to use windmills.

 

[John in Yuma]

Not the brightest idea. If any place is right for a solar power boondoggle, it is the good ol' moon.
Most reactor(!) Ideas come from people who know nothing about the how's, whys and wherefores of large scale nuclear power generation. On the flippin' moon? No.

 

[625-7]

Nuke power station first followed by a Dollar General store. Gotta start somewhere

 

[WR Moore]

I don't think that sending power to earth is the intent. About nuke plants in space : http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2012/ph240/johnson1/

Don't know if it can be scaled up, but we've been using nuke generated electricity in space a long time

 

[jeffrefrig]

These guys watched too much Fireball XL5! Also, do these guys know The Archies were lip syncing?
" Hey, my dad's a tv repairman. He has this awesome tool kit! We can do this!"
All we need are some Xenar Diodes. And a real long extension cord!
Bell Star 14 you now can land…see you on Aldabaran.

 

[DWalt]

There is a great deal of development presently being done regarding small modular nuclear reactors, basically factory made, and components assembled onsite wherever power is needed. The idea is not that new. Nuclear subs have been using small reactors since the 1950s. But the new reactors will be much safer and more efficient, designed around the use of a different type of nuclear fuel. Look up HALEU. There is already a pilot plant producing HALEU near my old Southern Ohio home town, to be followed by building two small modular reactor power plants close by. Pretty exciting stuff, at least to me. https://woub.org/2023/10/12/piketon-nuclear-hub-uranium-enrichment-plant/

 

[65-2x2]

I don't think that sending power to earth is the intent. About nuke plants in space : http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2012/ph240/johnson1/

Don't know if it can be scaled up, but we've been using nuke generated electricity in space a long time

like since the beginning of time...

 

[dockmurgw]

I was only 8 months old at the time, so I just don't recall...but I bet JFK heard many of the same comments when he proclaimed we were going to the moon. Small modular reactor on the moon to support activities there...why not? Just think of all the things we take for granted today that were developed for the first trip to the moon. And the moon isn't populated by echo activists...yet...so I think we can do it.

 

[swsig]

An another benefit of having a reactor on the moon is that in addition to supplying power it could supply food in the form of fission chips.


I'll go quietly, now...

 

[SMSgt]

Another case of wishing in one hand . . .

 

[Jimbo41]

Don't see why not, bet it gets stolen by someone.

But I'm not sure that solar wouldn't be a better answer. I think it'd come down to how much mass needs to be delivered, and solar panels are light compared to even a small reactor.