UK backs Rolls-Royce project to build a nuclear reactor on the moon

Re:UK backs Rolls-Royce project to build a nuclear reactor o... by krasin on Saturday March 18, 2023 @10:20PM (#35215349)

Heat will be an asset, not a problem: the Moon sub-surface temperature is around -20C ([1]), which means there's an easy way to dissipate power. And if we have any humans living on the moon, that heat will very much be appreciated around all livable areas.

https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/19906/constant-lun...

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Re:UK backs Rolls-Royce project to build a nuclear reactor o... by m4rtink on Saturday March 18, 2023 @10:30PM (#35215411)

Interesting!l, havent ever thought about that!

What is the heat conductivity though ? If it is low, you might have to sink too many heat transfer channels, not to mention with possibly ending up with a hot "bubble" that would no longer provide a temperature gradient.

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Re:UK backs Rolls-Royce project to build a nuclear reactor o... by krasin on Saturday March 18, 2023 @10:40PM (#35215449)

Under the layer of regolith, Moon crust is mostly basalt ([1]), which has about 1.6 W/mK thermal conductivity ([2]). Not great, not terrible.

We all know how cold it is to stand on a stone floor - unlike wood or plastics, it keeps sucking that heat off.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_structure_of_the_Moon

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_thermal_conductivities

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Re:UK backs Rolls-Royce project to build a nuclear reactor o... by sanp on Saturday March 18, 2023 @11:34PM (#35215769)

Nice Chernobyl reference!

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Re:UK backs Rolls-Royce project to build a nuclear reactor o... by krasin on Sunday March 19, 2023 @12:06AM (#35215936)

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Re:UK backs Rolls-Royce project to build a nuclear reactor o... by mongol on Sunday March 19, 2023 @12:57AM (#35216177)

https://youtu.be/ocBVLMHK6c8

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Re:UK backs Rolls-Royce project to build a nuclear reactor o... by krasin on Sunday March 19, 2023 @01:25AM (#35216304)

Thanks! I now get the reference, although it was completely accidental. I should watch the movie, I guess.

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Re:UK backs Rolls-Royce project to build a nuclear reactor o... by sph on Sunday March 19, 2023 @04:21AM (#35217049)

It is a miniseries and it is excellent and gripping from start to end.

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Re:UK backs Rolls-Royce project to build a nuclear reactor o... by iancmceachern on Saturday March 18, 2023 @11:04PM (#35215593)

Your forgetting about radiation. You don't need to conduct it all away, there are 3 modes of heat transfer, conduction, convection and radiation. In this case it's the radiation they'd rely on.

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Re:UK backs Rolls-Royce project to build a nuclear reactor o... by deepsun on Sunday March 19, 2023 @03:10AM (#35216747)

Sunlit surface of the Moon can reach 127 C. Don't know what type of reactor they choose, but it obviously won't work for boiling type of reactors.

UPDATE: I forgot about not-water coolants. Molten salt or liquid metal reactors can work at 500 C, so would radiate anyway, right.

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Re:UK backs Rolls-Royce project to build a nuclear reactor o... by iancmceachern on Sunday March 19, 2023 @11:23AM (#35219873)

Radiation doesn't need a temperature gradient anyway

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Re:UK backs Rolls-Royce project to build a nuclear reactor o... by FridayoLeary on Saturday March 18, 2023 @11:18PM (#35215696)

I don't know if that will cool the reactor enough to prevent a meltdown.

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Re:UK backs Rolls-Royce project to build a nuclear reactor o... by krasin on Sunday March 19, 2023 @03:35PM (#35222671)

A gigawatt-class reactor? - not a chance

A 10kW reactor - easily; almost no engineering will be required, but it's also not enough for anything useful.

I suppose the future of Moon energy will be in a megawatt-class reactors, which are still possible to cool like that, but provide enough heat+energy to be useful for colonies.

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