Nuclear-powered passenger aircraft 'to transport millions' says expert - Times Online
Nuclear-powered aircraft may sound like a concept from Thunderbirds, but they will be transporting millions of passengers around the world later this century, the leader of a Government-funded project to reduce environmental damage from aviation believes.Turnbull in fresh attack on Govt's climate policy - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
The consolation of sitting a few yards from a nuclear reactor will be non-stop flights from London to Australia or New Zealand, because the aircraft will no longer need to land to refuel. The flights will also produce no carbon emissions and therefore make no contribution to global warming.
Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull says the Government should not be rushing to introduce an emissions trading scheme in 2010.
"It's likely to be economically very damaging and environmentally very ineffective so a lose-lose [situation]," he said.
"It's important to put Australia first to be environmentally effective and economically responsible."
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Totally moronic, first thing is that the reactor would have to use weapon grade fuel in order to shrink it down to minimum size.
Secondly, a reactor is just a heat source and you have to add all sorts of extra equipment in order to get useable power out it. Submarines use a reator to boil water indirectly and then use that steam to turn a turbine. The turbine then turns a generator. This involves all sorts of pumps, heat exchangers and other heavy equipment. How would you cram all this on any imaginable aircraft?
And then there of course there is the crash problem. An operational weapon grade fueled reactor contains simply staggering quantities of very very radioactive material. Can you imagine the result of one of these crashing at La Guardia?
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