Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

AquaRegia t1_j96qrbn wrote

A fission reactor is actively smashing the fuel to pieces, in order to release the energy faster. There are RTGs that only use the normal decay as its energy source, but they produce far less energy.

7

Dysan27 t1_j9dcbda wrote

RTG's also tend to use isotopes with a much shorter half-life (since they decay faster and produce more energy). So while they can last years/decades, they don't last the centuries/millenia of nuclear fuel.

2