Questions tagged [nuclear]
For questions about atomic nuclear phenomena and their effects on the world. For heat and power generation applications of nuclear phenomena, use [nuclear-power]. For weapons relying on nuclear phenomena, consider [nuclear weapons] and [weapon-mass-destruction]. Compare [radioactivity], [weak-force] and [strong-force].
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Effect of adding a fourth kind of radioactive decay
That question did spawn from though experiments about what kind of differences one had to expect in a parallel universe. When reading in fiction about this topic, sometimes the "changed natural ...
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Ways of detection of radiation wastelands/spots in a technology free world?
BACKSTORY: So in my story there was a type of nuclear winter that forced surviving humans to live underground until the world above became breathable again. By now the world than once was (our world) ...
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What would happen to nuclear plants if all the electric stuff would just overload and burn out?
I'm working on a story where an energy wave from space just hits the earth and all the electrics burn out. This is a question which has been on my mind for a little while. If there were no computers, ...
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What would the global effects of a prolonged nuclear war at sea be?
There are a great many studies targeted at the effects on the environment of nuclear war on land, but I can't seem to find any relating specifically to nuclear war at sea.
The current basic setup in ...
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Effects of a Rapid Fire Nuclear Weapon on the Environment
One of the weapons I'm planning on having a character use in a sci-fi world is a rapid fire nuclear autocannon. While the strategic use of nuclear weapons is common on inter-galactic battlefields, an ...
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How to design a proper void whale?
I was thinking about the concept of space whales that are presented in some sci-fi universes. Usually, their origin is either unexplained or explained in some pseudo-magical way. As an example, it is ...
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Causing Nuclear Reactions With A Sword
Okay, so the ultimate villain of my story is a million-year-plus-old malevolent extraterrestrial believed (and for good reason) to be the most powerful being in the universe. He has incredible ...
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Military/Government Breakdown in Post-Apocalyptic USSR
Background:
In an alternative universe the Cold War (circa 1975) turns hot after some satellite communications errors. Nukes start flying — but for the purpose of the question, let's just focus on the ...
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Uses for a 1950s-era nuclear-powered land vehicle?
I have heard of the Chrysler TV-8 design, an amphibious armored vehicle powered by an onboard nuclear reactor...basically a nuclear-powered tank. The TV-8 never made it off the drawing board; the ...
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Nuclear-powered helicopter? [closed]
Have there been any plans to use fissionables as a power source for helicopters in a military role? What would some of the envisioned difficulties and missions of such a vehicle? I imagine long ...
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How could a small group pre-apocalyptic people prevent the breakdown of an advanced nuclear-based power source generations later?
I've been toying with the idea of a world that was once hyper-technological, where body modification and nanotech-based body modifications were the norm such that society practically couldn't function ...
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After a major nuclear war/disaster, how much radiation would remain after ~300 years?
The setting for my story is a post-post-apocalyptic Earth. There was a nuclear war (and several related nuclear disasters due to power plants being either targeted or neglected), and it's already been ...
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How can I make Orion pulse vehicles take off?
During the Cold War, the United States initiated Project ORION. This program was intended to build and launch super-heavy vehicles into space. They wanted to do this not with the use of chemical ...
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Can workers in a radioactive environment use wireless radios to communicate?
My characters are entering a warehouse wearing radiation suits to protect from radiated materials. Can they communicate with each other via radio? No aliens. Humans in a real scenario on earth dealing ...
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Why would a nuclear powered spaceship needs to wait a few days before restarting the reactor engine?
Set some 50 years in the future, every spaceship in space is powered by a nuclear powered reactor and most of them came equipped with an ion propulsion engine for acceleration. I noticed that every ...
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