"Carey Sublette" wrote in message
nk.net...



Hmm, what would be this "present generation" of nuclear reactors? Old
Soviet designs dating from the 70s, never designed for high power output?


No the Topaz 2 designs of the 1990's

More reasonably the SP-100 technology would be the baseline for a new
"present generation", for which detailed design work was done in the early
90s. This gives about 80 watts/kg for the megawatt power system under
consideration, about par with the present generation of solar cells near
Earth, and an 8-1 advantage over solar cells near Jupiter. Using the
proposed thin film cells you have cited with 400 W/kg output, they have a
5-1 advantage near Earth, but a 2-1 disadvantage near Jupiter.


The DOE has abandoned work on SP-100 - this is a dead duck

Keith