I was just reading the article in the Fenwiki on
Kaboomite when I noticed that it claims that
the Stellvians gathered all the 'easily accessible' fissionables. That got a raised eyebrow from me. The other eyebrow went up at the mention that
they only had three warheads (though I'm pretty sure they went through their share of test warheads).
BTW: Nice stroke of genius in having the Bubbleheads fire those shots - most Fen would figure that the Navy would naturally bring nukes to the table anyways.
Now, I'm not disputing either of those claims, but it does make me wonder what constitutes 'easily accessible' in this case, becaus there honestly
has to be a lot more fissionable materials out there than only enough to make three warheads.
Reason I'm wondering is because Fenspace!Ben is interested in wave-enhanced nuclear energy. Sure, people are tinkering with some interesting stuff, but
that doesn't mean he won't do any tinkering himself and basing it off of something that's tried and true 'Dane tech.
(Although, whereas nuclear power is concerned, I understand that some people feel that a grand total of two catastrophic accidents constitutes the abandonment
of progress. Wonder how many catastrophic wildfires got started by cavemen?)
Based on some of the other things said about Kaboomite the 'easily accessable' fissionables were all looted from various man made probes.
There are certainly deposits of uranium ore, thorium and other transuranic elements in usable amounts elsewhere in the solar system, but you'd have to prospect for them, mine them, and refine them,
unlike the NPUs in the various probes. That being said, it shouldn't be impossible for Fen with the right handwaved equipment to do all that.
Oh, now there's an idea. As of Kandor-con the Fen are essentially a sovereign nation (more or less), so I wonder if any of the factions could legally
obtain the plans for a CANDU reactor. Probably not in the early years though, as Greenpeace and the 'Dane governments would go insane about them
"producing nuclear weapons".
(Don't get me started on the general public's reaction to nuclear power. Yes, let's keep burning coal and gas, and flooding large amounts of land
with dams and ignore a much cleaner, smaller footprint technology because of... ah, nvm.)
--
If you've got a Warthog, every problem begins to look like a Warthog
will solve it. There is a large set of problems for which this is in
fact correct.
-- Mike Andrews
Quote:The other eyebrow went up at the mention that they only had three warheads (though I'm pretty sure they went through their share of test warheads).
They only had three left at the end of Operation Great Justice. Others had been expended earlier (one test-fire at Anticipation / Worldcon Flying Island, one use in battle just before the start of SOS-Con, unknown others), but there were never very many warheads.
Quote:BTW: Nice stroke of genius in having the Bubbleheads fire those shots - most Fen would figure that the Navy would naturally bring nukes to the table anyways.
They've got properly-calibrated targeting systems, unlike the 'waved make-do on the
Epsilon Blade. They've got properly-trained gunners, unlike Noah on the
'Blade. It's possibly the most important shot ever to be made with kaboomite ordinance. Noah's paranoid, not stupid...
Quote:Based on some of the other things said about Kaboomite the 'easily accessable' fissionables were all looted from various man made probes.
That's the major source, yes. There's also the process of running expended depleted-uranium ammunition (at least the DU ammo that the Blue Blazers didn't get to first) through a 'waved centrifuge, in order to extract the remaining useful uranium. (Heck of a centrifuge, yes, but if the wave can make a FTL drive and a Catgirling Machine, the wave can handle something that spins at 0.005c...)
Quote:There are certainly deposits of uranium ore, thorium and other transuranic elements in usable amounts elsewhere in the solar system, but you'd have to prospect for them, mine them, and refine them, unlike the NPUs in the various probes. That being said, it shouldn't be impossible for Fen with the right handwaved equipment to do all that.
True, but that takes time - enough time that an oversight body can be put in place before it becomes an issue. And by 2014, Fenspace has two such bodies: Great Justice and the Space Patrol.
Not that Noah's going to stop making kaboomite, but only on an "as needed" basis. By the time Helen is born, Noah will have scrounged enough uranium to make two more warheads - one for
Stellvia, one for the
'Blade.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Hrm... Ben's technically OG:J - he was hired by none other than Haruhi herself, so I don't forsee it being too big of an issue as long as he does the
whole safety inspections thing. That said, it would be a while until that particular program gets off the ground (so to speak
and by that time the
Roughrider's Highly Advanced ResearchDevelopment and Exploration Service (HARDES) will be up and running, with or without their Gagarin class ships.
Hrm... interesting thought. Gagarin class ships kitted out with Roughrider Quad-Helix engines and powered by Wave-enhanced reactors... Sounds like a solid
platform for some serious deep-space exploration, neh?
The idea of there being more Kaboomite is interesting. Ben would be curious, but he knows the smart money is on high-end kinetic kill weapons as they've
saved his ass on more than a few occasions. The one thing he does have going that could be controvertial among the Fen is that the main launch catapult at 36
Atalante (the one they use to launch the Peacemakers) can pull double-duty as a MAC Gun. Like Noah's Kaboomite warheads, it's there "Just in
case."
A.C.'s got BUNDLES of 'just in case', as I suspect EVERYONE ELSE does, but one plan is for a particle accelerator to manufacture antimatter in usable quantities. After all, if the Trekkies are doing it...
I don't remember - did we include antimatter production theory in the Whole Fenspace Catalog? Must check my notes... sometime soon...
(Not that somebody can't figure out a way without consulting the WFC, of course.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
A quick perusal of archives suggests that we had antimatter production and powerplant designs in the WFC, but nothing immediately useful given the tech base
ca. 2015.
Mr. Fnord
interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
It's not like time and resource constraints have meaning in Fenspace (Dome a 15km wide crater in months? Phah, easy. Floating Cities around Venus? Certainly! Terraform a planet in decades? No Problem! In fact we'll do
**TWO AT ONCE**). Cool rules all in Fenspace, remember?
I originally mentioned antimatter generation
http://drunkardswalkforums.yuku.com/top ... -2014.html which I did pass by you (Fnord) and Rob before I posted. OK, so it's a prototype but still... Just following rule 0 here.
I'd quote Kamina & Simon here, but we already know what they'd say.
High Energy Science, as you like it with Handwavium. Wheeee! (^_^)
How would I compete against antimatter reactors using nuclear reactions? Hrm...
Quote:How would I compete against antimatter reactors using nuclear reactions? Hrm...
Don't be there when it goes off.
Luckily for you, this is something that the
Midnight is good at...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012