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posted by martyb on Friday June 05 2015, @07:27AM   Printer-friendly
from the glowing-recommendations dept.

NASA has released a long-awaited Nuclear Power Assessment Study that examines the prospects for the use of nuclear power in civilian space missions over the next 20 years.

The Study concludes that there is a continuing demand for radioisotope power systems, which have been used in deep space exploration for decades, but that there is no imminent requirement for a new fission reactor program.

The 177-page Study, prepared for NASA by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, had been completed several months ago but was withheld from public release due to unspecified "security concerns," according to Space News. Those concerns may have involved the discussion of the proposed use of highly enriched uranium as fuel for a space reactor, or the handling of plutonium-238 for radioisotope power sources.

"The United States has spent billions of dollars on space reactor programs, which have resulted in only one flight of an FPS [fission power source]," the new NASA report noted. That was the 1965 launch of the SNAP 10-A reactor on the SNAPSHOT mission. It had an electrical failure after a month's operation and "it remains in a 1300-km altitude, 'nuclear-safe' orbit, although debris-shedding events of some level may have occurred," the report said.

In any case, specific presidential approval is required for the launch of a nuclear power source into space, pursuant to Presidential Directive 25 of 1977.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by gnuman on Friday June 05 2015, @06:19PM

    by gnuman (5013) on Friday June 05 2015, @06:19PM (#192614)

    I don't know enough about physics or engineering

    Then don't worry about it, because you got your concerns wrong in the first place!

    Space nukes are solid devices. All they do is make heat, and not much at that. Maybe a few hundred watts. Your walmart space heater makes more heat than that. They are designed that if they have to return from orbit, or rocket literally explodes, that they will land intact. They are basically a large slug of lead-like-substance wrapped in a protective steel coating.

    I don't think anyone is sending real nuclear reactors up into orbit anymore. But USSR sent up quite a few up there and many are still orbiting. By this I don't mean RTG, what I described above, but real nuclear reactors. And none of those things will withstand re-entry. But don't worry too much about that anyway. People have blown up thousands of nuclear weapons for "testing", many in atmosphere, spreading a thin plutonium layer worldwide. A small nuclear reactor shouldn't be much of a problem.

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