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See this debunking of the one in the news. Thorium is very slow to change the output on: you can’t just throttle it, but it would be putting out full power full time. For this reason alone, making it the primary power supply of a vehicle is impractical. See the video for more points that might still apply to your more realistic design.

Also, will your “bulb” work, or is there a minimum size for a sustained chain reaction? If it’s just a RTG you won’t have nearly enough power as you require.

If you’re set on using a reactor (not an RTG) in a cool story, do it on Mars. Surviving expedition members jury-rig a drive to move the entire habitat, using the same reactor normally used for general power. Without parts for huge electric motors or drive train of any kind, they come up with the 19^th century locomotive design. Nuclear steam train on Mars! Steampunk solutions to problems at hand, with existing computers and such they can use, but can’t make anything high-tech. They can use local iron from the soil to make parts from cast iron and wrought iron!

It could be a literal train, with multiple hab modules and cargo cars hooked up to the locomotive engine.

See this debunking of the one in the news. Thorium is very slow to change the output on: you can’t just throttle it, but it would be putting out full power full time. For this reason alone, making it the primary power supply of a vehicle is impractical. See the video for more points that might still apply to your more realistic design.

Also, will your “bulb” work, or is there a minimum size for a sustained chain reaction? If it’s just a RTG you won’t have nearly enough power as you require.

If you’re set on using a reactor (not an RTG) in a cool story, do it on Mars. Surviving expedition members jury-rig a drive to move the entire habitat, using the same reactor normally used for general power. Without parts for huge electric motors or drive train of any kind, they come up with the 19^th century locomotive design. Nuclear steam train on Mars! Steampunk solutions to problems at hand, with existing computers and such they can use, but can’t make anything high-tech. They can use local iron from the soil to make parts from cast iron and wrought iron!

It could be a literal train, with multiple hab modules and cargo cars hooked up to the locomotive engine.

See this debunking of the one in the news. Thorium is very slow to change the output on: you can’t just throttle it, but it would be putting out full power full time. For this reason alone, making it the primary power supply of a vehicle is impractical. See the video for more points that might still apply to your more realistic design.

Also, will your “bulb” work, or is there a minimum size for a sustained chain reaction? If it’s just a RTG you won’t have nearly enough power as you require.

If you’re set on using a reactor (not an RTG) in a cool story, do it on Mars. Surviving expedition members jury-rig a drive to move the entire habitat, using the same reactor normally used for general power. Without parts for huge electric motors or drive train of any kind, they come up with the 19^th century locomotive design. Nuclear steam train on Mars! Steampunk solutions to problems at hand, with existing computers and such they can use, but can’t make anything high-tech. They can use local iron from the soil to make parts from cast iron and wrought iron!

It could be a literal train, with multiple hab modules and cargo cars hooked up to the locomotive engine.

See this debunking of the one in the news. Thorium is very slow to change the output on: you can’t just throttle it, but it would be putting out full power full time. For this reason alone, making it the primary power supply of a vehicle is impractical. See the video for more points that might still apply to your more realistic design.

Also, will your “bulb” work, or is there a minimum size for a sustained chain reaction? If it’s just a RTG you won’t have nearly enough power as you require.

If you’re set on using a reactor (not an RTG) in a cool story, do it on Mars. Surviving expedition members jury-rig a drive to move the entire habitat, using the same reactor normally used for general power. Without parts for huge electric motors or drive train of any kind, they come up with the 19^th century locomotive design. Nuclear steam train on Mars! Steampunk solutions to problems at hand, with existing computers and such they can use, but can’t make anything high-tech. They can use local iron from the soil to make parts from cast iron and wrought iron!

It could be a literal train, with multiple hab modules and cargo cars hooked up to the locomotive engine.

See this debunking of the one in the news. Thorium is very slow to change the output on: you can’t just throttle it, but it would be putting out full power full time. For this reason alone, making it the primary power supply of a vehicle is impractical. See the video for more points that might still apply to your more realistic design.

Also, will your “bulb” work, or is there a minimum size for a sustained chain reaction? If it’s just a RTG you won’t have nearly enough power as you require.

If you’re set on using a reactor (not an RTG) in a cool story, do it on Mars. Surviving expidition members jerry-rig a drive to move the entire habitat, using the same reactor normally used for general power. Without parts for huge electric motors or drive train of any kind, they come up with the 19^th century locomotive design. Nuclear steam train on Mars! Steampunk solutions to problems at hand, with existing computers and such they can use, but can’t make anything high-tech. They can use local iron from the soil to make parts from cast iron and wroght iron!

It could be a literal train, with multiple hab modules and cargo cars hooked up to the locomotive engine.

See this debunking of the one in the news. Thorium is very slow to change the output on: you can’t just throttle it, but it would be putting out full power full time. For this reason alone, making it the primary power supply of a vehicle is impractical. See the video for more points that might still apply to your more realistic design.

Also, will your “bulb” work, or is there a minimum size for a sustained chain reaction? If it’s just a RTG you won’t have nearly enough power as you require.

If you’re set on using a reactor (not an RTG) in a cool story, do it on Mars. Surviving expedition members jury-rig a drive to move the entire habitat, using the same reactor normally used for general power. Without parts for huge electric motors or drive train of any kind, they come up with the 19^th century locomotive design. Nuclear steam train on Mars! Steampunk solutions to problems at hand, with existing computers and such they can use, but can’t make anything high-tech. They can use local iron from the soil to make parts from cast iron and wrought iron!

It could be a literal train, with multiple hab modules and cargo cars hooked up to the locomotive engine.