moon walker needs uranium

Posted by "Acreage" on another uranium site, thought would be good for WCU investors as well

Moon may get nuclear energy soon
ANISunday, January 10, 2010 11:07 IST Email


WASHINGTON: Reports indicate that NASA engineers are working on an ultra-compact nuclear power plant for the Moon that should generate enough electricity to run a house, or a lunar exploration base.


According to a report in Discovery News, the reactor is about the size of a big wastebasket. When the Apollo astronauts were on the moon, they only stayed a few days at a time, and batteries or fuel cells did them just fine.

But now, NASA is talking about astronauts staying for weeks or months, and batteries won't help their cause at all. They're going to need a long-term source of power for their exploration and scientific activities.

Space experts are proposing all sorts of power sources, from solar panels to king-sized fuel cells.One of most popular ideas is a small nuclear reactor.

The whole thing would fit into an 18-wheel trailer with room to spare and would weigh about the same as an armored humvee.

http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_moon-may-get-nuclear-energy-soon_1332992




A NUCLEAR REACTOR THAT COULD FIT IN THE SHED

John Grizz Deal wants to put a nuclear reactor in your back garden.

Dont worry, its safe. So he says. The technology his company, Hyperion Power Generation, is developing is licensed from Americas Los Alamos National Laboratory, birthplace of the atomic bomb.

As nuclear plants go, these are tiny, about the size of a shed. They will be buried 6ft underground, can run virtually unmanned for a decade and provide enough power for 20,000 people.

Thats the idea at least. Hyperion hasnt built one yet. Our goal, said Deal, is to take the benefits of nuclear power, make it safer and get it to the public.

Suprisingly, he is not the only one selling nukes for the masses. At least a dozen companies, from giants such as Toshiba-Westinghouse and General Atomics to start-ups such as Hyperion are working on plans to make mini reactors a reality. They vary from ones so small they could be put in the basement of a house to larger models that can be put into clusters of a dozen or so to give the output of a conventional power station.