Nuclear Powered Airplanes

And now we are there, is Depleted Uranium causing sickness? Probably not, at least not due to radioactivity, depleted uranium is not radioactive (not in any meaningful way at least), so, can you point out what in the depleted uranium actually cause the reported 'sickness'?

On the other hand I agree that having a working nuclear reactor close to you wouldn't be that nice, not to mention what happens if your plane is shot down.

Lavi said:

And now we are there, is Depleted Uranium causing sickness? Probably not, at least not due to radioactivity, depleted uranium is not radioactive (not in any meaningful way at least), so, can you point out what in the depleted uranium actually cause the reported 'sickness'?

On the other hand I agree that having a working nuclear reactor close to you wouldn't be that nice, not to mention what happens if your plane is shot down.

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there were some strories told of m1 tankers from gw1 getting somewhat sick. apparently the depleted uranium wasnt depleted enough. the stories were hushed up (suadi arabia and egypt were both seeking to buy the m1).

heck, i live 7 mi from a nuclear powerplant. and more than one notice has been issued for kids to get check ups fro radioactivity poisening.

delepted urainum has as much radioactivity as a banana. The only dangerous thing about DU is when it is fired and you might possibly in-hale DU particles.

the skin protects you from most of the Alpha, beta rays but will not protect you from a very low amount of gamma rays, so there is a small chance

Regards,

Chinawhite

The idea of nuclear powered airplanes is just coocoo. You can't fit it in a plane. We don't use prop-planes anymore, and they simply don't work with jets. Maybe in those special rockets that I know not of about, but that's it. It's just too impractical.

And I would never want to work with DU. It surely has a lot less radioactivity, but still above the normal ratios in nature. The sickness mentioned is probably from U-238's chemical properties and being a heavy metal by itself.

And BTW, lead blocks most gamma rays, but it does not block all, and it is no promise by itself.

PS-

I don't think heat is what's required to start a nuclear chain reaction, or did i miss something in physics class?

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Not fission, at least if you mean kinetic energy.

The idea of a nuclear powered jet is simply too crazy. Just think what would happen when one crashes into a city. I think it would be great if it's a kamikaze plane, then it might serve a realistic use. Any way Russia is now researching a solid fuel powered long range flight jet, I think this would be much more realistic and logical when it comes to saving fuel and for long distance combat.
:coffee: