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bustervich t1_iyb0u2n wrote

Designing a plane that could fly on nuclear power has been tried before early in the nuclear age. I don’t know if technology exists today to make it practical, but making it safe in the event of a crash is another story.

People generally think of black boxes on planes as indestructible, and they are pretty tough. But they’re good for protecting a few memory chips from impact and thermal forces. But even though the boxes are in the tail and designed so that the entire front of the plane acts as a crumple zone, there have been crashes where the black boxes were never found, even though the crash location was known and on land. Now imagine trying to build a containment vessel for some sort of reactor that can keep a plane crash from turning into a dirty bomb while also being light enough to be flown on a plane that also has to carry passengers and cargo.

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Master_Bayters t1_iyca84x wrote

We lost almost 40 years of comercial nuclear study due to the fear mongering that happened after Chernobyl. Some is understandable. I was just stating it wasn't impossible, but the industry went on a completely different path. And yes, to seal a core from impacts would be a pain in the *ss

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