ЗАКОПАТЬ ГЕНЕРАТОР НА 30 ЛЕТ? Ядерная батарейка и другие закрытые проекты СССР

Not so long ago, the frosty winter surprised many, including payments for heating. Maybe someone even thought, from those who live in a private house, that they would have some simple fuel-free generator that they bought in the backyard. But what if this device is not from the distant future, but from the very recent Soviet past? Let's take a look at this invention of the times of the Soviet Union, an isotope mini-power plant, which in the process of operation emits, among other things, practically free heating. The history of the issue is as follows. In 1821, physicist Thomas Johann Zeebeck discovered an interesting effect. If a conductor consisting of two different metals is heated on one side and cooled on the other, electricity is generated. This phenomenon was called thermoelectricity, or the Zeebeck effect. The efficiency of such an electric generator is very low, so it was forgotten for a long time. Soviet physicists remembered this effect during the Great Patriotic War. A simple and reliable electric generator was needed to charge the batteries of the partisan detachments. They urgently set up the production of such boilers, which generate thermoelectricity from the heat of an ordinary fire. After the war, thermogenerators were used to power home radio receivers. A kerosene lamp served as a source of heat, the most common source of light in the houses of those times. Even the Gründig company for a long time equipped its radio receivers with a thermogenerator. With the beginning of the space age, thermogenerators were needed again. If solar batteries can be used in near-Earth space, then there is no point in them in outer space. Nuclear isotopes began to be used as a source of heat for thermogenerators. Such generators are called RETEGs, Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator. The isotope is good because for many years it can produce a stable high thermal power. The reduction in return is less than 1% per year. The Pluto 238 isotope with a half-life of 88 years is used in space vehicles. It is considered the safest of all isotopes. Look at this photo. This girl checks the operation of the thermogenerator without any protective suits. The only minus is the extreme cost of the Pluto 238. Such RETEGs have been working on American Voyager satellites that have flown beyond the solar system for 44 years, providing electricity and heat to scientific equipment. Another isotope, Strontium-90, was used for ground RETEGs. It is very cheap, but requires a more massive protective shell. It also has a shorter service life, the half-life period is 29 years. Thermogenerators were widely used in the USSR for energy saving of beacons and remote radio navigation systems. In the early 1970s, it was decided to create a non-serviceable nuclear thermogenerator of high power to provide electricity, heating and hot water supply to remote settlements. In 1981, the project of the station with the romantic name Elena was ready. The nuclear thermoelectric station was completely non-serviceable. The structure assembled was a cylinder buried in the ground. There were no mechanisms, pumps, engines in the structure, so it could operate without maintenance for up to 30 years. It generated up to 100 kilowatts of electricity and up to 3000 kilowatts of thermal energy. This was more than enough to heat the entire village. To confirm the accuracy of the calculations, an experimental Gamma station was built at the Kurchatov Institute. The station worked for 30 years without a single incident. Moreover, scientists artificially created critical operating modes up to the full short circuit at the entrance, and Gamma withstood all tests. After the collapse of the USSR, enthusiasts proposed to start a wide implementation of such stations, proving high economic efficiency. But by that time, the head of the energy system of Russia, Rao E.S., already had this redhead character, who clearly did not need all these innovations. The entire project was buried, arguing allegedly that it was impossible to protect from vandals and terrorists. As an example, retags on Kamchatka were brought by destroyed hunters for colored metal. The bright photos of vandalism, of course, were spectacular, but you don't have to be surprised by such shots, because the retags were in free access, no one guarded them, and those responsible for these installations of the organization were simply liquidated by the new authorities. Such breakthrough developments of the late USSR were then cut in pieces. The same Buran flew once, everyone was delighted, but then an order was issued to liquidate the development. Or this so-called Caspian monster, now it's something in between a scrap metal and a monument on an airbag. Well, all these times are long gone, and what now? The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Emergency Situations, despite the need to feed remote objects, are not interested in such generators. The redhead character was transferred from Rosnan to an honorary pensioner position. Although, to be fair, he should just be using manual tools to master the hard-to-reach places of the Far North. Meanwhile, several companies in the world are already engaged in small nuclear power plants. For example, the Toshiba company is already working on the Toshiba 4S project Super Safe, Small and Simple. Super reliable, small and simple. In appearance, the project is very similar to the Soviet ATES Elena, a demonstration prototype of which, by the way, has been successfully operating at the Institute of Nuclear Energy for 12 years. The cost of the generated electricity is stated by the company at 5 cents per kilowatt hour. The same is the cost of dismantling in 30 years and, of course, the profit from the sale. Should we expect that very soon everyone will be able to put a nuclear generator in the basement? Or even build more in the basement or on the roof of a multi-apartment house instead of a gas boiler room? It is difficult to say how soon this will happen, but the engineering thought was able to implement this. Look, at first glance, this is something from a series of repair errors. In fact, these two shells are inside this ship. And they are there for a reason. The ship, or to be more precise, the floating instrumental platform, was built more than half a century ago, in 1962, for the needs of the US Navy Research Department. It was built with a special purpose, to study sound underwater waves, to improve the hydroacoustic systems for the detection of submarines and mines. The task was to get rid of the parasitic background noise interfering with the operation of the supersensitive equipment, for which the sensors had to be submerged. The result of the design was the R.P. Flip research vessel, 108 meters long. Of these, 91 meters are occupied by tanks, after which the ship's stern is submerged in water, and the R.P. Flip freezes at a right angle to the water surface. This position of the ship is working, and the horizontal one serves for movement. The ship did not have its own propulsion system and used a tug to move. Moreover, the tug moved it both horizontally and vertically. Therefore, all beds and tables are fixed in turning mechanisms, devices and equipment were fixed in the corners, and there were two doors in each room. Or here is another powerful example of engineering thought. All in all, it was necessary to cross T-34 with MiG-21 and get this monster. The Big Wind fire tank. The need in such a fire engine, powerful enough to extinguish a burning oil well, appeared in the early 90s of the 20th century in Kuwait. During the hostilities, about 700 wells were blown up by Iraqi sappers, 10 million barrels of oil were burned every day. Urgency dictated the ecological situation in the region. Black suffocating smoke spread for hundreds of kilometers. The monster, based on the chassis of the Soviet T-34 tank with RD-25-300 turbines from the MiG-21 fighter, produced 800 liters of water per second in an activated state. The most powerful jet cut off the still non-burning layers of oil and cooled the hot pipes. This is how it was possible to extinguish a burning oil well. But not only tanks with jet engines are capable of extinguishing fires. Vintage sports cars can also do this. The luxury Horsch 853 was produced in 1937-1940. It was this car that became the last of the Horsch of that class. A wide range of variations of the body were included, of course, as well as a convertible. And not just a convertible, but a sports one. After World War II, such a vehicle was imported to one of the cities of Czechoslovakia, and it surprisingly did not end up with the minister or the general, but with the fire department. It was modified there so that it could be driven out to the fire quickly, and from 1949 to 1960, this car truly served in the fire department, arriving at the scene first. What are all these examples for? We have shown that the engineering thought is capable of a lot, and you can implement almost any idea, including portable generators, which you saw at the beginning of the issue. But... Apparently, there are other factors that prevent such installations from appearing in mass production. A good question, which will be interesting to discuss in the comments. Let us know with a like if you liked this issue, and whether it is worth continuing this topic. And see you on the Karamola channel.