Re: Packard in the New York Times

Posted by HH56 On 2011/4/29 15:26:05

Maybe use all of those left over fuel rods from the Japanese nuclear plant to boil the water.

Good idea -- some kind of use needs to be found for em.

Can't speak for uranium waste but back in the old days of 30 years ago when Cobalt60 radiation therapy units were common, the source was a cylinder about the size of a pea and the lead shielding was around 8 inches thick surrounding it. You'd have to sacrifice quite a bit of efficiency for the added weight of the lead shielding around the power source plus need to wear some lead skivvies for good measure. That would put a crimp in the mileage and the comfort level would be the pits. Lead chafes.

Of course, disposal and left overs still might be an issue. You may remember an instance several years ago when some scrap dealer shipped a load of scrap metal to Mexico. Turned out there was an improperly decommissioned and disposed of medical unit along with the scrap and some company down there made steel plate out of it. Any number of radioactive products shipped all over the place. And then of course, there's always the shadetree mechanic who thinks he could make it run better without all that weight and drives down the street giving everyone a sunburn.