Depends on the source of the carbon that was used to make the graphite; although there is natural graphite, virtually all of it used today is synthesized in electric arc furnaces.
Green wood doesn’t burn too well.
That’s okay, so long as the electricity comes from renewables. Eventually, it will.
Unless civilisation collapses, we might be able to keep our steam trains.
Just put electric heaters in the locomotive boilers, and source the electricity from overhead lines.
Like this Swiss loco?
Damnit. All of my worst ideas have already been tried!
Turn in your Mad Scientist license.
More Power!
Gimme a minute. I can come up with something worse.
A decent steam locomotive needs something like 8 megawatts of thermal power to operate. Pu238 produces 500 W/kg. So we only need to dump 16 tons of plutonium in our boiler, which is actually less than a cubic meter–plenty of room. Divide it up into small pellets and just dump it in. It’ll run for decades without significant slowdown.
You’d best keep the water topped off, though.
At $4M/pound, that’s only $128 billion dollars worth of fuel.
Such a deal.
Anyone know the minimum-volume non-critical geometry of 16 tons of plutonium? Asking for a friend…
A quick google shows others have thought about it.
I believe he was referring to Pu-238, like in radiothermal power from alpha decay rather than fission reactions. No pesky neutrons to deal with.
I’m kinda confused, actually. Pu-238 is, as you say, mainly an alpha emitter, used in RTGs, which is why I thought of it. Few neutrons to speak of. And yet the wiki page and other sources say it has a critical mass. Ok, maybe the neutrons get going when it starts fissioning (say, using a neutron initiator). But other sources say that the neutron spectrum is wrong and hence it can’t go critical.
At any rate, I’m sure there are many ways to avoid criticality problems. Just coat the pellets with boron nitride or something.
A better poet than me is needed for the Tennessee Ernie Ford adaptation.
Saint Peter don’t you call, because I glow,
I owe that glow to the company ore!
You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
A critical mass and a global threat.
Saint Peter, don’t you call me, I ain’t ready yet;
I’m buried knee-deep in the world’s regret.
You dump sixteen tons and what do you see?
The glow of the future, bright as can be.
Saint Peter now listen, this isn’t a joke,
I’m covered in dust and I’m starting to croak.
If you see me coming, better step aside,
A lot of men didn’t and a lot of men fried.
I got one fist of iron, the other of steel,
If the radiation don’t getcha then the lead shield will.
You dump sixteen tons, what do you claim?
A radioactive world with a new kind of fame.
Saint Peter, hold off, keep the gate shut tight,
I’m glowing too much to come into the light.
Bravo!
Absolutely fantastic. I am in awe.
Impressive. The sixteen tons was sheer dumb coincidence on my part. And props to Chronos for recognizing it.