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In term's of localized power generation, has anyone looked up much on RTG ( Radioisotope thermoelectric generator) for domestic or small scales applications?  Mars Curiosity RTG, 110W for 45kg total weight. I don't imagine that they would be any good for large scale operations (as for the most part they produce not much wattage at all with current tech, the ones used for space applications, such as the Curiosity mars rover, produce only a few hundred watts) but for small batteries and tiny loads they don't seem all that bad. In terms of energy though, these things are rocking, and with a bit of research for efficiency, they could be an awesome generator! Here's a few awesome things about them: - Run off the waste fuel from some nuclear reactors, that of Strontium 90, but you can still use other materials for this, many byproducts and waste. - Sr-90 has a half-life of 28.1 years, but using other fuels, like Plutonium-238 has a half-life of 87.7 years, or if you want long haul, Americium-241 with 432 years! - Using Sr-90 as an example, it produces around 0.96 Watts a gram - They aren't usable for weapon grade materials. - In most cases, they don't need too much shielding (according to Wiki, it needs around 3mm of lead shield, less or more depending on the fuel). - From what i can find, the cost is around $20 a gram for Sr-90, that is rather on the expensive side, but that is over a 30 year period just for half-life which I'd say is pretty darn good value. Obviously these things could never compare to a large scale reactor or peak load, but in terms of localized buildings like hospitals and all, put a nicely shielded one with some waste fuel, connect to batteries, and be kicking along for a very very long time. Personally, I don't see that as a huge cost, $20,000 for 1kW worth of fuel for 30 years? My main concerns are what would the sort of feasibility be for a generator like this? Most of the time they're used for space probes and missions (cause 80 year half life pretty drat good for fuel), but on the ground you could maintain and replace them without too much trouble I would think, not to mention upgrade them when needed or simply replace in a controlled way. I would totally put one in my backyard if it wasn't for NIMBYism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator PDF of fuels and info: http://fti.neep.wisc.edu/neep602/SPRING00/lecture5.pdf
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Sep 12, 2012 05:19
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Office Thug posted:Stuff about fuel availability and small modular reactors Ah thanks very much for that, I'm actually not all that educated about the waste and all of nuclear reactors, I knew wasn't easy to get all the isotopes, but wasn't aware that it was such a pain to get it in the first place. Thanks for that link too, those SMR's look pretty nice for a reactor design, plus I'm sure it would be a lot easier having one of those than a few hundreds to thousands RTGs all scattered around  I guess I just like the idea of having a reactor where you don't have to fuel it for decades, instead of lovely coal like Australia has way too much of right now.
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Sep 13, 2012 02:56
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