NASA's "Prometheus" program in jeopardy.

[Insolent_Tauri]

Even if there are over 50 nuclear warheads at the bottom of the ocean, think very carefully about what that means. It could mean that a single soviet missile submarine sank. And besides, he's not talking about nuclear weapons, the deployment of which is a hazardous and risky exercise any way you look at it, he's talking about nuclear powerplants. And keep in mind that Chernobyl was due in large part to human error and untrained opperators, and that Three Mile Island was safely contained, and immediately afterwards the procedures and training routines were altered so that a LOCA would be detected far earlier and much more easily contained.

[Made_from_Beer]

All this talk about the wonders of nuclear power, but the fact is that Australia owns 40% of known uranium and you will have to pry our hands open to get any The reality is that China who is considering buying and investing minning companies in Australia will most likely led to an increase in resource competition if nuclear power was to become widely adopted across developing nations. Especially with the Australian 3 mine uranium policy and a public fear that makes our only nuclear reactor into a google earth targeted dear ist time terrorist dooms day feral animal killer.

[Insolent_Tauri]

Speaking of China, they're building nuclear reactors left right and center. And they're the third country to put a man in space. And a while ago there was talk of them going to the moon, just to prove that they can do it just as well as the USA can. So maybe *they* will be the ones to put a nuclear reactor in space and then put a ship around it and then be totally awesome. Who knows.

Out of curiosity, who here thinks that the UN should have a space program?

[Jarnin]

Speaking of China, they're building nuclear reactors left right and center. And they're the third country to put a man in space. And a while ago there was talk of them going to the moon, just to prove that they can do it just as well as the USA can.

That's crap. The only reason people are shot into space is to tell the other nations of the world that they can park a nuclear warhead anywhere in the world in 30 minutes. China saying they're going to the moon is no different than the space race between the USA and the USSR; they want to show off how impressive their ballistic missile technology is.

Out of curiosity, who here thinks that the UN should have a space program?

I think the UN should be kept as far away from space as possible. The last thing we need is more bureaucracy in space.

[helio9]

Speaking of China, they're building nuclear reactors left right and center. And they're the third country to put a man in space. And a while ago there was talk of them going to the moon, just to prove that they can do it just as well as the USA can. So maybe *they* will be the ones to put a nuclear reactor in space and then put a ship around it and then be totally awesome. Who knows.

Out of curiosity, who here thinks that the UN should have a space program?

Meh, even if they do it, they're cheating. The US did it without computers (or rather they were in a very basic form). In Apollo 13, you actually see people confirming calculations by hand. With modern tech, lots of cash, and very cheap intellectual labour, I have no doubt that China could go to the moon if they wanted it bad enough.

[Praetorian]

Plutonium reactors?

I assume he refers to fast-breeder reactors. These are generally prefered in the less developed countries because they are cheaper to run, and they produce weapons grade plutonium...As a general rule, fast breeder reactors preduce more fissile material than they consume.

The rest of us use thermal reactors, which are considered nicer...cant remember the specifics. My particle physics has abandoned me.

[Insolent_Tauri]

Acctually, I think that plutonium reactors (Or "breeder" reactors) create U-235, I think. Which can then be further fissed, either in a controlled reactor or in a nuclear weapon.