WEBVTT - Nuke-Mobile 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:07.080 Brought to you by Toyota. Let's go places. Welcome to 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:14.640 Forward Thinking. Hei there, and welcome to Forward Thinking, the 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:17.520 podcast that looks the future and says in for an 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:22.919 evening of light entertainment. I'm Jonathan and I'm Joe McCormick, 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:27.400 and today we've got what will be hopefully a very 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:33.319 funny and illuminating topic. Particular, lady stand too close right 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:36.839 yourself might be illuminated. Yes, so with a with a 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:42.080 healthy blue glow of the cheering cob variety. Um, because 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:45.360 we wanted to ask a rather strange question. Today. We've 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:49.560 talked about traditional vehicles of all kinds, post fules, we've 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:52.960 talked about electric vehicles. We've talked about fuel cell vehicles. 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:59.640 Here's a question that may have sort of an obvious answer, 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.360 several obvious answers right off the bat, but it's also 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:06.280 more interesting than you might expect. Why don't we have 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:11.040 nuclear powered vehicles? Now, stay with me for a second. First, 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:14.240 we do well, yeah, okay, we have some. We we 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:18.039 will talk about some. But I got this bizarre image 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:24.039 in my head of a nuclear powered airplane. Now, the 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:26.920 airplanes we have today that we fly, you know, they 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:28.960 use jet fuel. And they use a lot of it, 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:32.080 and burning all that jet fuel of course comes with 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:34.720 some problems we've talked about on the podcast before. I mean, 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:38.480 those emissions are not without consequences. And of course the 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:41.800 jet fuel is very expensive and it limits the range 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:44.600 of the plane. Yeah, you have to refuel basically all 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:46.960 the time. Yeah, and then we've got all these nice 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:50.920 little alternatives like these solar airplanes we've talked about, But 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:54.800 of course those are great. Not to downplay that at all, 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:58.680 Like the solar impulse is a very amazing and interesting 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:02.840 achievement in techno coal designs. Sure, but it's a very 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:05.840 delicate thing. It's incredibly limited in what it can do. Yeah, 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:10.240 it doesn't have a lot of payload capacity it you know, 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:13.640 it's it's got those problems. It's not generating enough electricity 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:16.280 for it to do much else than keep it aloft. 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:18.960 So it can't it couldn't be something that we would 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:23.960 convert into, say a passenger jet. Right, So what about 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:29.840 the possibility of something like a nuclear powered airplane, Because 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:34.120 when you talk about nuclear energy, suddenly there you say, Okay, 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:39.480 you can generate massive amounts of power, right, you can 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:42.440 have lots of range, like you don't need to refuel 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:46.440 a nuclear reactor for potentially years, depending on you know 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:48.720 what your fuel is and how the reactor is designed 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:52.120 and things like that. You could build the kind of 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:55.760 airplane that we always imagine as being the perfect solution 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:59.120 to a zombie outbreak on Earth, the airplane that never 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:03.840 has to land, at least at least a solution that 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:06.840 would allow you to find, you know, a more permanent 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:10.640 place to stay, because eventually you would run out of food, 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:14.040 but you would definitely be able to fly around until 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:17.400 you were able to discover that perfect uninhabited island that 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:22.360 as yet uh completely covered with food generating resources. You 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:25.520 could hunt birds, and you could grow crops on the 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:30.640 top of the plane. Makes perfect sense, Alane, My objection 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:38.760 is withdrawn. Okay, So but extending that beyond airplanes, airplanes, cars, motorcycles, boats, 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:45.520 what what is the possibility of actually creating nuclear powered vehicles? 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:49.160 And I know you at home are thinking, we'll wait 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:52.840 a minute, what about all the radioactive waste. Yes, we 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:55.040 are considering that and we're going to talk about it, 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:57.800 but let's just play with this for a second and 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:01.040 see if anything comes of it. Sure, and the wacky 0:04:01.080 --> 0:04:03.880 thing is You're not the first person who this has 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:07.440 occurred to, Joe. No. In fact, there have been entire 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:12.640 government agencies dedicated to trying to figure out, oh if 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:16.839 we could create a nuclear powered aircraft. For example, Yeah, 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:20.080 weirdos in the Air Force asked this question way back 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:25.640 in y so, so you know, embrace your fellow weirdos. Uh. Yeah. 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:28.119 This This was from a long line and a proud 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:32.599 hyt period total. So in n the U. S. Army 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:35.320 Air Forces, which would later just be called the Air Force, 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:40.599 created the Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft NIPA. 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:45.440 Eventually that would be replaced by a different UH acronym 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:50.240 program called Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion or or just A and P. 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:55.760 And they were looking at the potential of using nuclear 0:04:55.800 --> 0:05:00.280 power to generate enough electricity to power and air craft 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:03.560 keep it in the air UH, specifically for military purposes. 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:08.160 So this was during the the era, the post World 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:11.800 War Two, entering into the Cold War era. We're having 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:16.280 the capability of keeping an aircraft in flight perpetually in 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:19.000 case you needed to, I don't know, drop bombs on 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:23.479 your enemy. Was of a very high priority at the time. 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:28.640 So this was predating the Inner Condoo ballistic missile, right you. 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:31.960 So people were still very much concerned about the possibility 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:36.480 of using bombers instead of missiles. And uh, the program 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:42.599 ended up eventually converting to convey B thirty six aircraft, 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:46.880 which were hybrid prop jet engine aircraft bombers, all right, 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:50.440 So these these were pre existing aircraft that had been 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:52.839 in use already, and then said, well, why don't we 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:54.719 go ahead and try and convert one of these to 0:05:54.760 --> 0:05:59.000 see if it could carry a nuclear reactor and do 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:02.200 so safely. So this was just a test platform. It 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:04.599 wasn't the nuclear reactor was not if you think of 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:07.280 it this way, it wasn't hooked up to anything, it 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:11.200 wasn't powering the planes systems. But it was an air 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:15.880 cooled nuclear reactor that was put in the bombing bay 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:19.400 of these two different convey B thirty six aircraft and 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:22.160 operated to see if it would in fact be safe. 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:26.680 And there they had to obviously drastically alter the aircraft 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:30.159 to make certain that the crew would remain safe, and 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:34.719 they were shielded by twelve tons of lead and rubber 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:40.000 between them and the reactor. Uh. And by the way, 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:43.520 this particular type of aircraft is also known as the peacemaker, 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:49.560 because of course it is exactly. Uh. You might just 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:53.279 refer back to our double Think episode. Uh. It made 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:58.320 forty seven test flights over Texas mainly, and ultimately they 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:03.080 decided to not incorporate this as a full design, mainly 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:06.320 because the engines that they were using had evolved to 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:08.840 a point where it was no longer practical to use 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:13.280 that particular approach, so it was abandoned, largely because the 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:18.000 surrounding technology of aircraft had gone further while they were 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:21.120 still testing out the the viability of having a nuclear 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:24.480 reactor on board and aircraft. H Yeah, yeah, I believe 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:27.160 back on text stuff. A long time ago, you and 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:30.680 I did a Lockheed Martin uh series, like two or 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:33.360 three episodes that talked a lot about the advances that 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:35.680 were going on in jet engines in that era exactly, 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:38.040 and there was a lot of them coming here after 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:40.080 World War Two. People were really interested in it, RAM 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:43.160 jets and that kind of thing exactly. Yeah. But of course, 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:46.760 as we alluded to, there are some both obvious reasons 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:50.560 and perhaps less than obvious reasons why we don't really 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:53.880 have nuclear powered airplanes today. And we'll get to the 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:57.840 obvious one. First. Safety sure. I mean, what if a 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:02.080 plane crashed and sprayed radioactive material all over the place. 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:04.520 That would be very bad. And if it's military, then 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:06.960 there's always the possibility it could be shot down. So 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:09.880 it's not not just not just a mechanical failure, but 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:13.960 you're talking about specifically placing some of these aircraft in 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:17.280 harm's way because that is their purpose, right, Yeah, what 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:21.120 happens if there's a meltdown? Um, what happens if it 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:24.800 leaks in some way like you've seen, Like, it doesn't 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:26.560 have to be a full meltdown for there to be 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:31.840 some kind of leak of like water or steam radiated material. Yeah, 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:35.559 and then of course there is the issue of passenger safety, 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.760 like you were talking about in uh in this other 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:41.840 aircraft that had actually been created, you'd have to shield 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:44.600 the people on the plane to protect them from what 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:47.520 was happening in the reactor. And I'm sure that that 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:51.439 introduces problems for aircraft design. You typically don't want to 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:55.640 be introducing lots of heavy materials like lead and stuff 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:58.880 into your aircraft, especially depending on what it's purposes. If 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:02.120 it's for cargo, you are impacting how much cargo you're 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:04.760 going to be able to carry, right, because the heavier 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:07.000 you make that aircraft, the more powerful it needs to be. 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:10.360 And uh, and you know, the design has to change. 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:12.120 So when you get to a point where just the 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:16.440 power system alone on the aircraft is that heavy, it 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:19.920 starts creating the other other things you have to consider 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:22.400 before you ever get to the point of actually loading 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:24.600 the plane up and taking off. Yeah, and then of 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:26.640 course on top of that, it's got the problems that 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:31.120 just come with all nuclear power, right that you have regular, stationary, 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:35.120 non flying nuclear right, you end up with this with 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:37.920 this hazardous material that you have to find some way 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:40.400 of dealing with and hoping that nobody gets into it 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:42.840 for ten thousand years. Yeah, we talked about that in 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:45.600 previous episodes, and that is I mean, that's that's a 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:49.720 non trivial problem. The solutions of nuclear power where you 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:53.319 have lower carbon footprint or non existing carbon footprint depending 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:56.040 upon the implementation, and the fact that you don't have 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:59.880 to refuel all the sort of things, are fantastic. But 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:02.680 the downside of having where do you put the spent 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:08.240 fuel that's still is very potentially dangerous is a big issue, 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:11.960 and it's one that that governments have not fully agreed upon, 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:16.520 yet there have been a lot of of debates about 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:19.040 what's the safest way of dealing with that, and so 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:22.720 really that the answer to that question is nobody knows. Yeah, yeah, 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:24.640 there may be. It may be one of those situations 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:28.360 where like, well, if if we decide that nuclear power 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:30.840 in fact makes the most sense out of you know, 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:35.520 all the different arrangements that we could have, we still 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:38.560 have to figure out, like what's the maybe the least 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:42.600 bad option of dealing with nuclear waste. No one really 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:44.920 wants to do deal with that problem. We're in a 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:48.400 kind of like ongoing kick the can mode. Yeah, yeah, 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:51.320 so kicked the big old nuclear can't. So, so that 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:55.920 is something that has obviously been a deterrent in developing 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:59.520 nuclear powered vehicles. It's not the only one. Cost is 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:02.439 a big one, sure, yeah, yeah, All of these problems 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:07.079 that we're talking about are technically solvable, but at great expense. Yeah, 0:11:07.520 --> 0:11:10.599 really great expense. I mean, designing a nuclear reactor is 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:13.679 not cheap, and then designing one specifically litill fit within 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:17.080 a vehicle also not cheap. Outfitting that vehicle so that 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:21.640 it shields anyone from potential radiation not cheap. So eventually 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:23.319 you get to a point where the cost of the 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:27.679 vehicle may be so high that from a financial perspective, 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:30.640 it makes no sense to go with that as opposed 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:33.720 to a more conventional style vehicle, whether it's an aircraft, 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:36.360 a car, or whatever. So that's the fact that you 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:40.200 don't have to refuel for a hundred years balanced out 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:42.000 by the fact that it took you more than a 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:45.240 hundred times, for example, that the cost of what that 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:47.200 fuel would have been in the first place. Yeah, yeah, 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:52.079 uh yeah, that's interesting. The other thing, I think one 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:53.560 of you made this note, but I think it's a 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:57.079 really good point. How do you like do the work? 0:11:57.120 --> 0:12:00.560 So you're talking about not just carrying a nuclear reactor 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:04.520 on board, but somehow using the the energy created by 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:08.120 that reactor to do mechanical work like spina propeller blade, right, 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:10.480 and that that actually. Know, when I was a kid, 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:13.480 I just thought, oh, it's just you got the glowing 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:16.320 pellet and you put the glowing pellet in this this 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:18.440 this chamber, and then you close the door in the 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:21.640 chamber and then the wheels move like you know. It 0:12:21.720 --> 0:12:23.680 just it didn't occur to me, what is the actual 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:26.920 process that we you know, what is nuclear power. Doing 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:31.080 that allows us generate electricity or mechanical power, and more 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:33.360 often than not, this is not the only way, but 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:37.959 it's the main way. We're talking about nuclear fission where 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:41.560 you're having adams split up and uh, and those particles 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:44.600 end up going on to create more nuclear reactions within 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:48.480 the fuel rod. That generates a lot of heat. That 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:52.160 heat ends up superheating water, converting it to steam, which 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:57.480 then turns turbines. So you've got like a superpowered steam engine. 0:12:57.480 --> 0:12:59.480 And what it comes down to really at its core, 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:02.080 you are to sing the power of the heavens in 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:05.600 order to get a steam engine. Yeah, you're just yeah 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:09.480 everything that I mean, it's one heck of a steam 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:13.320 yeah yeah, extremely efficient. Yeah. So you know, those turbines 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:18.240 are what generally speaking, generate electricity or mechanical motion to 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:21.760 turn and propeller that sort of thing. Uh. That's not 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:23.920 the only way. We will talk about some other ways 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:26.800 that you can I'm not necessarily you, but that we 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:31.000 can use nuclear power to generate electricity in order to 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:34.400 do work that is not directly related to nuclear fission. 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:38.600 But that's the that's probably the most common way. Well, 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:42.960 let's get away from my my nuclear plane fantasy and 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:47.280 ground this podcast in some reality first, and we will 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:49.679 talk about some more wacky stuff towards the end. But 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:53.480 there actually are vehicles right now that use nuclear power. 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:57.000 They exist, yeah, and then they exist for good reason. Yeah. 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:00.520 One big example, of course is nuclear submarine. Have you 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:04.200 ever seen the Hunt for Red October? Well, you know 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:07.040 there is the scene where they have what they believed 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:13.720 to be ye don't react well to bush. You remember 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:16.640 the scene in it where suddenly they have radiation leaking, 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:18.080 or at least they say they do, and they have 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:21.200 to evacuate. They have to vent with the outside air 0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:24.040 and have the crew come outside and stand on top 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:27.400 of the submarine up in the ocean. UM. I mean 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:31.960 that's a real concern because the submarines have nuclear reactors 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:36.200 inside them. Yeah. First we should stress not all submarines 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:40.320 are nuclear powered, certainly not not not all navy vessels 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:43.560 are nuclear powered, but a lot of them are. And 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:45.680 when you when when you think about the reasons, it 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:49.520 makes sense. Like a submarine's purpose for the military anyway, 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:52.680 is it's a it's kind of a stealth vehicle, right, 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:56.560 It's able to pass underneath um and to be used 0:14:56.680 --> 0:15:01.840 in and various uh military applications and including warfare, and 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:04.800 you want to limit the number of times you need 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:08.040 to surface in order to preserve the safety of that 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:10.640 vehicle and its crew. It's kind of like the upside 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:15.200 down version of My never Landing Zombie escape Plane. Yeah, yeah, exactly. 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:20.920 So the nuclear reactors aboard submarines allow for the generation 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:24.440 of electricity and the propulsion of the submarine so that 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:27.280 you don't have to surface unless you need to resupply 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:29.560 or uh, you know, the a tour of duty or 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:32.880 whatever is over. So during the Cold War, the United 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:36.440 States was looking at developing this technology because before they 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:38.760 were all diesel powered submarines, so they would eventually have 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:41.680 to reservice to refuel and then they could go back 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:45.640 down again. Uh. So they started looking at developing nuclear 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:50.640 propulsion systems specifically for submarines, and the first one was 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:55.240 the U. S. S. Nautilus, which was launched in nineteen 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:58.560 fifty five. Uh. It was also the first submarine to 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:04.800 uh to to reached the North Pole underwater. Obviously, I mean, 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:06.800 you wouldn't think it would fly over the North Pole 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:09.200 it's a submarine, but I don't know. They get some 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:12.520 great airtime Yeah, they can. You know, if you've seen 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:14.880 if you've seen a Hunt for October again, the captain 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:17.880 has forced them out of the water. Um. In the 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:21.960 early nineties sixties we started seeing other navy vessels used 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:25.880 nuclear fission to power propulsion. The first aircraft carrier to 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:29.360 do so was the U. S. S. Enterprise, which is 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:32.120 actually the second Enterprise. UM. And if you want to 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:34.840 hear more about that, Scott Benjamin and I did an 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:38.280 episode of tech Stuff on how aircraft carriers work and 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:42.320 we talked about the the transition from the traditional steam 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:46.160 powered submarine aircraft carriers, i should say, to the nuclear 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:49.600 powered ones. So that was that was pretty cool. Another 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:52.920 benefit of putting this type of engine on a submarine 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:58.200 is that it's it's really easy too cool nuclear engines 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:01.480 using water. Yeah, that is in fact, how many nuclear 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:06.240 power plants cool there reactors. Right, You'll often see a 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:08.680 nuclear power plant right next to a body of water, 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:14.000 and submarines are in the water. Yeah, it's so the 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:17.960 naval reactors use very similar methodology to the power plants 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:19.919 that you would see on land. And you know you 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:23.639 have a nuclear core. Um, you've got nuclear rods that 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:26.560 are able to once once you initiate a nuclear reaction, 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:29.280 they're able to sustain it. You have some material that 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:32.520 can absorb neutrons. That's one of the things that are 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:35.280 given off in nuclear reactions, So you put the absorbing 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:38.440 material down to help dampen the reaction. That's what allows 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:40.399 you to have a controlled reaction as opposed to an 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:44.159 uncontrolled reaction, which is bad. Yeah, uncontrolled reaction is essentially 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:47.560 an atomic bomb. That's what you get with an uncontrolled reaction. 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:50.480 So this allows to prevent things like a melt down 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.560 it and then the water cools the system as well. 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:58.320 And plus the water gets superheated remains in pressurized lines. 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:01.960 So because the line are pressurized, it keeps the the 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:04.879 water under such pressure that it doesn't boil off into steam. 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:08.360 It stays in liquid form, but it's superheated. It then 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:10.240 goes to an area where it will be able to 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:14.880 turn turbines. At that point it's allowed to expand, so 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:17.960 the pressure is removed. That means it immediately boils off 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:21.520 into steam. Very high powered steam turns these turbines. Now, 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:26.480 the turbines may only be used to generate electricity, or 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:29.359 they might do two things. They might generate electricity and 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:31.920 they might have a gearbox associated with them that can 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:36.119 translate the rotation of the turbines into a rotational force 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:39.960 for the actual propellers the middleman. Yeah, so you could 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:43.320 have you know, some vessels use essentially a giant electrical 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:45.520 motors to turn the propellers and then you just generate 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:48.760 the electricity with the nuclear power. And some have this 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:51.560 combination where you're generating electricity for the ship, but you're 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:56.680 also generating mechanical energy for the propellers. Uh, it's pretty neat. 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:00.639 So those are the vehicles that use new clear power 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:04.159 right now as propulsion systems. And again some you know, 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:07.200 it's not that every nation uses this, but many do, 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:12.240 so it's not it's not rare. What I want to 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:18.000 know is when I can get a nuclear powered luxury sedan. Uh. Well, 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:20.840 you know there's there have been some some talk about 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:28.480 nuclear powered cars. Talk yeah, sure, talk practical. The practical 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:34.399 answer to your question is never. Sorry, this was the 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:37.240 thing that when I had this hair brained idea for 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:40.760 an episode. This was the thing that made me say, okay, 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:42.560 well we have to do this because I looked it 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:45.480 up and I was like, oh, somebody thought it would 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:48.840 be funny to actually design a forward concept car with 0:19:48.920 --> 0:19:54.040 a nuclear propulsion system. Not just funny, but but an 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:57.639 effective marketing tool for the Ford Motor Company. Right, I 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:01.040 gotta say that thing looked like a major boat. Oh man, 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:06.359 it looks it looks like it looks like the Batmobile 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:09.879 if the Batmobile had been designed for George Jetson. I'm 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:13.520 fine with the design. I love the design. I just think, yeah, 0:20:13.560 --> 0:20:16.120 finding a parking space for that thing would be a nightmare. 0:20:16.480 --> 0:20:20.520 We are talking about the Ford Nucleon board Nucleon Okay, 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:24.120 so first things first, it should come as no surprise 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:27.800 to anyone that this car was never actually built the concept. 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:31.320 It never made it out of the three eights size 0:20:31.359 --> 0:20:34.720 model stage. Yeah, what was the deal with this concept? 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:39.000 So well, it's a little little complicated in the sense that, 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:41.760 you know, it was such a concept that they didn't 0:20:41.760 --> 0:20:44.080 really define a lot of things. It was supposed to 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:46.680 be nuclear powered, um, and they said that you could 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:49.480 drive five thousand miles, which is more than eight thousand 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:53.439 kilometers before needing to refuel or recharge, which is interesting. 0:20:53.520 --> 0:20:56.280 I mean, actually, according to Stanford University, if you really 0:20:56.280 --> 0:20:57.960 had a nuclear powered car, you might be able to 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:00.119 go between three to five years before you have or 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:03.520 needed to refuel, which sounds pretty nice really, Uh, but 0:21:03.600 --> 0:21:05.760 of course you still have radio activity. You still have 0:21:05.840 --> 0:21:10.639 to shield everybody from the nuclear core itself. So that 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:12.760 would end up adding a lot of weight to your car. 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:17.600 So your car being incredibly heavy, um, possibly so heavy 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:19.760 that you would have to worry about certain elements of 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:24.040 infrastructure like old bridges, things like that, things that you 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:26.000 might not want to you know, you might not otherwise 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:27.960 consider because you'd be you'd be in a car that 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:30.080 might not seem that big, but would be really heavy 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:33.480 and could potentially outweigh like your giant Mac trucks or 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:36.639 at least be on an equivalent weight. And also, I 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:39.000 mean with that weight comes problems with the momentum, right, 0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:40.840 I mean, if you're traveling at a certain speed in 0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:43.239 your car is a certain weight, then your brakes need 0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:46.920 to be extra good. You know, there's some problems there. 0:21:48.000 --> 0:21:51.280 But yeah, like like Lauren was saying, they never they 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:53.480 never build a full one, and they never really defined 0:21:53.560 --> 0:21:57.560 how the nuclear power worked. Yeah, since they never really 0:21:57.560 --> 0:21:59.879 intended for it to be a production car. It was 0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:03.240 really just a just a concept published in a brochure 0:22:03.280 --> 0:22:07.280 in or so, uh, they weren't even interested in the 0:22:07.280 --> 0:22:09.439 sticky details of whether this thing would be powered by 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:13.119 nuclear fission or nuclear fusion. They were kind of like whatever, 0:22:13.200 --> 0:22:17.000 whatever scientists on the power of the atom, right, totally. 0:22:17.480 --> 0:22:19.919 The last line of the brochure is is such a kicker, 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:23.400 it said, and I quote cars such as the Nucleon 0:22:23.480 --> 0:22:26.560 illustrate the extent to which research into the future is 0:22:26.600 --> 0:22:30.000 conducted at Ford Motor Company and point up the designers 0:22:30.080 --> 0:22:33.000 unwillingness to admit that a thing cannot be done simply 0:22:33.080 --> 0:22:36.680 because it has not been done. Right. Yeah, so this 0:22:36.680 --> 0:22:39.720 this is right there in the smack dab middle of 0:22:39.760 --> 0:22:43.639 the the atomic age, where where atomic was going to 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:47.920 be considered the solution to all our problems energy and otherwise. Yeah, 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:51.040 it was. It was also that that crazy nifties car 0:22:51.119 --> 0:22:55.960 boom where everyone in America was buying different cars so 0:22:56.040 --> 0:22:58.439 that they could have so much freedom. Of course, it 0:22:58.480 --> 0:23:00.840 was also right in the middle of when every movie 0:23:00.840 --> 0:23:04.120 plot was well, there's a regular animal that's been made 0:23:04.160 --> 0:23:09.360 into a giant, dangerous animal because of nuclear atomic radiation. Yeah, yeah, 0:23:09.400 --> 0:23:11.920 there was there was a not a consensus on the matter, 0:23:11.960 --> 0:23:15.960 and so it turns out in pr terms. Also, uh 0:23:16.040 --> 0:23:19.320 you know, I think they talked about it just being 0:23:19.359 --> 0:23:22.480 like it would be powered by an atomic pellet. That's 0:23:22.480 --> 0:23:24.760 about as close as they got to explaining how it 0:23:24.800 --> 0:23:28.840 was working. So, you know, with since this was such 0:23:28.880 --> 0:23:31.680 a concept when you when you talk about a concept car, 0:23:32.040 --> 0:23:36.080 you can't get much more conceptual than this very vague description. 0:23:36.720 --> 0:23:39.919 But the design is pretty pretty sweet. It was pretty sweet, 0:23:40.119 --> 0:23:42.399 and you know, but so yes, I would pause it 0:23:42.520 --> 0:23:45.240