Recent content by zbret

Interesting, and a LFTR should be lighter more powerful and more efficient. I went to the link provided and noticed the units seem to go to a fairly high heat output, but don't scale electrically. Just so you know, a modern diesel locomotive is about 3MW (4000hp+)...

I suspect this idea comes from a few sources - first much of the US track is not electrified. Since electricity and long distances is not a good mix, and much of the US power generation is from coal, the US uses diesel-electric locomotives. They put out about 4 MW each since rail travel is...

I think the idea of a Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG) locomotive is interesting, but I wanted to comment on its current feasibility. The Pu238 used for NASA's RTG is actually so rare now that NASA is basically out of the material. We were buying it from the Russian stockpile but...