[ RadSafe ] Space, Enriched U, Pu, Electric Cars, etc.

[JPreisig at aol.com]

Dear Radsafe:
 
     This is from:    _jpreisig at aol.com_ (mailto:jpreisig at aol.com)     .
 
     Hope all is well at work and at home.
 
     Enriched U and/or Pu from decommissioned nuclear  weapons is stored in 
the USA.  Don't know if
it would be available for space propulsion use.  Fabricate the  enriched 
fuel from the device leftovers
and fuel the space reactor.  Personally, I would be happier about  using 
Uranium for space propulsion,
but perhaps there is a reason or several why Pu should be used  
preferentially over enriched
Uranium.
 
     The engineering professor at Princeton University  who works on Ar ion 
propulsion was referred to
in an earlier Radsafe posting, and refers to an article in the Trenton  
Times newspaper.  Apparently the
Ar ion propulsion system is already used for space satellite propulsion,  
but the resulting power 
levels are less than those which result from using a reactor fueled by  
enriched U/Pu.
The Ar ion propulsion systems are being designed for higher power  levels.
 
      All manner of remote control toys,  airplanes, etc. are available for 
purchase these days.  Has 
anyone seen a toy flying saucer that actually takes off from the Earth's  
surface.  Heck, if they can
build a toy that takes off from the ground, then maybe a flying saucer  
containing humans could also
take off (Take off, JOE!!!!).
 
      Apparently, commercial battery charging  (electric) filling stations 
are being planned soon for some
major roads in New Jersey.  Drive your hybrid car anywhere  soon????
 
     Hmmmmm, James Stewart and Attenborough depending  on a German toy 
designer to fix their
airplane so they can fly out of the desert...sounds like a movie plot line  
(Flight of the Phoenix).
Phenix is also a particle physics detector at Brookhaven Lab (Phenix,  
Brahms, Star, Phobos, etc.).
 
     If Fermilab shuts down in three years or so, will  there be any real 
high energy particle physics being
done on accelerators running in the USA????  RHIC is funded via  Nuclear 
Physics (lower energy)
budgets.  Hmmmmmm.
 
     Wonder if Bob Dylan knows who Franz is....
 
     Have a good weekend.....
 
 
     Regards,      Joseph R.  (Joe) Preisig, Ph.D.