Robatoy wrote:
On Jul 27, 11:20 am, dpb wrote:
I keep trying to reconcile the what we know about nuclear powered
satellites and the size of the behemoths we seem bent on building on
the ground. Even the small units that power subs and aircraft
carriers. Why do these power plants always have to be so big and
unwieldy? I don't want to go as far as suggesting 'Neighbourhood Black
Power Boxes' but....(I understand there would be security issues but
that is not why the big nukes are as big as they are.)

nuke plants are large because of the generation size, and containment
(accidents).

subs don't have 'large' plants because they skip a lot of the safety and
containment bits. if they get a meltdown, it just goes out the bottom of the
hull.