whats with the effiency thing on the thermoelectric generator?

[JtPB]

its always at full power(1). shouldnt it go down after a while? or being variable at all? else why its there anyways?

[Dave Kerbin]

Yes it would go down but on the scale of decades. Now technically many people play games that manage to warp through that kind of time but that runs into another thing which is that it's a game. Just like how the atmosphere suddenly stops (instead of extending far out and slowly eroding orbits of any near kerbin object) it's just not part of the game to make people micromanage stuff over large time scales. If you've got something working (a craft in stable orbit, a ship powered by an RTG) it's expecting that it will continue working while you go off and do something else instead of requiring on going baby sitting.

But ultimately missions (even grand tours) normally end in 10 years or less so having an RTG slowly degrade is an edge case anyway.

[biohazard15]

That's the way RTG works for now in KSP - an infinite power supply

If you want "finite" nuclear power sources, try mods like Near Future Propulsion.

[DovahMarat]

It says on the wiki that it takes decades for the nuclear reactors to degrade. But once they start degrading, their degradation speed increases constantly

[Nathair]

RL Plutonium powered RTGs lose about 0.8% of their capacity each year.

[JtPB]

So it is degrade. is there a way to refuel it or replace the finished reactor? Cause if, we say, we going to build a ground base with that kind of power plant, we need to renew it. Currently the only way i can think to do this is as following:

- detach the unefficient plant and move into suborbital trajectory until it crash on the ground;

- than, launch new plant and dock it at the plant port.

[PhaserArray]

100% divided by 0.8% per year = 125 years to reach 0%, sweet!

Edited March 12, 2014 by PhaserArray

[SpaceGremlin]

Wouldn't a decay of 0.8% per year be (1-.008)^x? So after 125 years it would be operating at 36.6% efficiency.

[PhaserArray]

Wouldn't a decay of 0.8% per year be (1-.008)^x? So after 125 years it would be operating at 36.6% efficiency.

Maybe I did something wrong but see this.

[Rabada]

Wouldn't a decay of 0.8% per year be (1-.008)^x? So after 125 years it would be operating at 36.6% efficiency.

Correct! Half life is exponential

[radonek]

So it is degrade. is there a way to refuel it or replace the finished reactor? …

Technical sidenote: it's not a "reactor". There is no chain reaction going on, just natural decay. You could refuel it, but why? After some hundred years, whatever it is powering is gonna be well beyond service life.

[bsalis]

its always at full power(1). shouldnt it go down after a while? or being variable at all? else why its there anyways?

Yes it should go down. I believe when the part was added that code handling the going down bit would be added later. I suspect that feature has been shelved though.

[MockKnizzle]

I assume that it would be pretty trivial to just replace an aging RTG, seeing as any permanent surface base is going to need restocking well within the operational lifetime of the the RTG anyways. However I doubt that an RTG would even be used in such an application, since it's a very inefficient means of power generation and the power requirements of a manned base would likely be much greater than an unmanned satellite.

[Streetwind]

So does it go down over time or does it not go down? Make up your mind guys!

[pizzaoverhead]

So does it go down over time or does it not go down? Make up your mind guys!

It was a planned feature that was never implemented. As of 0.23, RTGs are indefinite sources of electricity.

Before the original resources plan was abandoned, it was planned to have RTGs and LV-Ns degrade over time and require being refuelled using blutonium extracted from Eve's oceans or by mining.

[Streetwind]

Wow, that was quite a complex feature. Not surprised they weren't happy with it... I can see at a glance that this would basically require a planetary building mode to pull off properly.