Why not nuclear powered cars?

Question

I was just looking at this wikipedia article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Nucleon The Ford Nucleon concept car from 1958. It was never built, but the claimed it would run over 5000 miles between charges, at the end of the core's life they would be taken to a charging station, which research designers envisioned as largely replacing gas stations.

Why can't we be driving these?

Answer 1

Giving every moron who can drive a nuclear device is just a baaaaaad idea.

I say if you want to get rid of that pesky oil - we need to go back to our roots and all start riding horses again.  We never had a oil problem then!

Answer 2

Why?  because the eco-fascists hate nuclear power.

Answer 3

It would make a h**l of a car bomb.

Answer 4

I think we eventually will, just not based on fission. A fusion-powered car could run for thousands of miles on a gallon of water. Unfortunately, we're still decades away from being able to do this, possibly decades away from being able to sustain a fusion reaction for more than a few seconds.

The main problem with nuclear power is the waste it creates. The risk of a release of radiation from a breach or meltdown is minimal and can be made even less likely with new reactor designs. But unless we use breeder reactors to 're-process' the spent fuel rods so we can use more of their potential energy, nuclear power is not as efficient as it could be. Currently we use only a small fraction of the energy potential in each fuel rod before it's discarded and we use that to heat water to turn a steam turbine for power. I think it's sort of like a caveman turning a spaceship he found into his nice new cave.

Powering cars with a tiny nuclear power plant isn't a bad idea but I doubt it would ever be permitted due to public perceptions that nuclear fission is a bad idea and inherently dangerous, neither of which is true. I'm sure we could do much better today than Ford's idea from 1958, but there are now better and safer options.

Answer 5

I am pro-nuclear, but there are several problems with a nuclear powered car.  First, I think there will be a problem building a reactor small enough.  Second, the containment shield would have to be totally crash resistant.  Finally, it would allow anyone access to nuclear material.

Answer 6

you wreck .................

Answer 7

Jane Fonda scared everyone away from nuclear power with the movie "China Syndrome."

Hamsterbaby - it might look cool in cowboy movies, but everyone riding horses would mean the streets are full of horse manure.  That's too gross and nasty.

We got the oil and 80% of the country wants us to drill for it, so what's the problem?

Answer 8

I prefer something with a little more oomph.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Ori...

Any engineers out there willing to build me a car?

Chitty chitty bang bang...