Quote:
Originally Posted by wellspring
BTW, how does a fission reactor work in space in the first place? Do you have to rotate it for gravity, or does it use something other than convection to operate?
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You just pump the coolant, same as almost all real-world high-power fission reactors.
AFAIK, reactors that can operate on convection are a recent innovation for submarines, and limited to low power levels - to go fast, the sub has to turn on pumps. Making reactors able to deal with residual heat via convection with no pump once they've been shut down is a desirable feature, but is not always achieved.