How can nuclear power produce -electricity- in space when energy must be converted differently?
Hear me out before you downvote; It's not as simple as it seems.
On Earth, nuclear reactions produce heat energy. This is used to heat water, creating steam, powering turbines connected to generators - and voila, electricity.
IN SPACE,
If you attempt to use thermal energy to produce steam, it will not "rise" because buoyancy does not apply; furthermore, liquid water will mix with vapor in messy circumstances that make pressure systems more complex to construct. Therefore, conventional reactors cannot operate to produce electricity the conventional way, in space.
Additionally, as jamesqf mentioned in a comment,
Heat engines (steam turbines) require temperature differences, which, unlike on Earth, cannot easily be catered to in space. Enormous radiators disposing of excess heat are necessary to make turbines run effectively.
So how would a nuclear-powered spaceship, without artificial gravity, generate electricity effectively from raw thermal energy and the radiation associated with nuclear reactions?
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/62088. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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