I'm not a genius im only an engineer.
But why not build a car using nuclear decay to power a generator
which powers an electric motor to drive the car
Many people have suggested plutonium 238 not sutable for clean bombs but great for a dirty bomb .
how about strontium 90 never been assosiated with weapons has a halflife 32 years (most people do keep cars that long) and can reach a temp of 800 celcius and its called a waste product which they just end up storing in underground vaults.
Its is a beta decay which requires more sheilding than alpha decay
so why not put the pellets in a sythetic diamond case to sheild the radiation before it even reaches the liquid but not insulate the heat (because diamond is the best know conductor of heat) the strontium will heat liquid helium to the critical point 176 celcius. the steam turns a turbine and generates electricity
the helium then passes through a thermal electric cooler making it easily compressable equiring less energy
the helium is then recommpressed into a tank to a pressure of 5000psi then strontium in the tank reboils the liquid helium.
people have suggesteed solar powered cars and puting turbines to charge a battery but how about using solar to only power the 10 hp compressor and a dozen mini tubine to power the thermal electric cooler.
so this would be a closed circuit the helium never leaves lasts minimum of 20 years
also this type of rtg would be more efficent compared to regular rtg which convert heat dirrectly to electricity

Is liquid helium workable at these temperatures?

5000 psi for it to remain liquid at room temperature, is that correct?

In my opinion, total madness to put that radioactive hazmat in the hands of the general public. It would make more sense to have nuclear power in secure plants and use the power to refine hydrogen for use as motor fuel.

I will leave it to qualified engineers to evaluate your idea for the diamond shielding and the engine.

the helium is liquid when first compressed but when reaches critical point its gas at any pressure (look up critical point on wiki)

I know the critical point is the point at which the substance loses the ability to be either liquid or gas.

This doesn't address the feasability of having pressures of 5000 psi in a commercial vehicle.

plus strontium is only dangerous if eaten and synthetic diamond is only 60 per ct. costing only $600.00 to make the rod casing
compared to pu238 which is themost dangerous poisonous substance on earth

How much does strontium cost?
Did you say it's a by product? From what?

in 1990 it cost $5.00 an oz.
in 2004 it cost $20.00 a gram
a byproduct of nuclear fall out and fission also found in minerals celestine and strontianite
naturaly.
compared to pu238 which was $300.00 per gram in 2000
and now in 08 it cost $2000 + per gram

That's quite a price change.

If we were to rely more on nuclear power plants- you are saying strontium would be a by product? How much would actually be produced?

16 kg/1000 mwey in 2000
nuclear fission waste only

Ok.. What I meant to ask is how to produce enough to supply your idea.

thats usa supply only fission
china in 05 produced 700,000 tonnes
thats 700,000,000 kilo mined in china

Yeah well, the USA needs to get crackin' on nuclear

A quicky wiki look at Strontium:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strontium-90
Also it says:
Great.
Diet soda, red M&M's, bacon and nuclear cars cause cancer. Watch the special tonight on FOX News!

what?

what? who cares what idiots think 2 in of lead sheild all beta radiation produced by strontium 90

I was gonna ask about strontium and calcium.

As we try to get rid of the lead in paint, and mercury in fillings, we start using strontium in our cars? I just can't see this happening.

alainprice
A compressor fills one of three 9 liter tanks to a pressure of 5000
the helium is then boiled to 8000 psi
and the tanks are carbon fiber so if your in an accident the tank splints open not explode the only danger in this is that it will produce a high speed draft
and no two year old is going to eat something thats so hot its glowing
not as dangerous if inhailed unlike lead and mercury
and it cant bleed through your skin its solid at room temp

plus beta emmision can be blocked by aluminum foil
diamond is a little denser
cost isnt that big of a deal you only need three pellets and three cases
to do this

this is only preliminary thread ill make one on april 20th with design ,specs , and detailed cost

Neilzero posted below me mentioning an alternative use for such a vehicle.
Of course, My Mind goes, "ROVER!"

Simply put, We can complain pretty harshly about petroleum products. We are just so used to using them.

But they are going to run out someday.

We use petroleum to make all manner of plastics too. I wonder what the stock for Dow Corning will do then?

If I recall correctly 90 pounds of Pu238 are needed to produce 10 kilowatts in a RTG = radioactive thermonic generator. Strontium 90 would likely be used if it produced more power. A steam turbine powered by the same heat might apply 50 kw to the wheels of a typical SUV, which may be enough to give acceptable performance. I can't imagine 90 pounds of either metal in a car, especially at the prices suggested in this thread. Likely much of the cost is refining from high level nuclear waste. Perhaps the high level nuclear waste can power the car, without the cost of processing the waste. The main problem would be neutrons and gamma radiation which would be difficult to shield properly. This system may have application for unmanned vehicles which don't need shielding. Vehicle repairs would have to be done by waldo or robot. Neil