Re: Plutonium on Next Atlas V - Bad Idea?

Cardman wrote:
>
> I doubt that a rocket explosion would do a good job in cracking an RTG
> open. The payload is on top after all, where it should simply go up
> and then down again.

It says right there in the environmental impact
statement (Page 2-27)

"http://www.spacescience.nasa.gov/admin/pubs/plutoeis/index.htm";

that "failure of the launch vehicle has the potential
to create accidental environments that could damage
the RTG and result in the release of PuO2".

One of those "accidental environments" is ground
impact early in launch. Have you ever seen video
of the AC-5 Atlas Centaur pad explosion? There
was so much energy that it actually created
a small mushroom cloud right over the (remains of
the) pad, complete with "fallout" consisting of
bits of shredded stainless steel and fiberglass.

Have you ever seen photos of the Zenit launch pad
at Baiknonur - at least photos of the massive hole
in the ground where there *used* to be a launch
pad? That rocket was powered by the rocket engine
from which the Atlas V RD-180 is derived.

How about images of the craters in the LC17 parking
lot after the 1997 Delta II explosion?

Think how fun the cleanup would have been at these
pads if plutonium had been lying in the midst of
the burning debris.

- Ed Kyle

.

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