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 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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