Do RTGs Run Out?

[zxczxczbfg]

Quick question. I realize everyone treats RTGs as effectively endless power sources, but there's an "efficiency" number that pops up when you right-click one, which got me thinking: Do the PB-NUK Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators eventually run out? In real life, the radioactive elements used to generate power eventually decay into uselessness, but is that simulated in-game? If so, how long is the "lifetime" of one RTG? (I know, not very useful information, since most missions don't take anywhere approaching that long, but it's nice to know.)

Edited October 6, 2014 by zxczxczbfg

[biohazard15]

No.

(ten chars)

[zxczxczbfg]

Interesting. (Care to expand on that?) If they don't run out or degrade over time, I'd like to know what the "efficiency" value counter is for.

[Drew Kerman]

Ooh, would like more info on this as well. Even if it's only so I can simulate decay myself by just editing the SFS file

[undercoveryankee]

Best theory is that "efficiency" on the generator module would have been significant for some of the ways the proposed stock resource system would have used the module. (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/72177-whats-with-the-effiency-thing-on-the-thermoelectric-generator?p=1019434&viewfull=1#post1019434) We don't know how you would go about changing it on an RTG or what the result would be; all we know is that the RTG doesn't change any of its own state in normal operation. Decay isn't modeled.

[Claw]

It might possibly be a place holder for future features, but (as others have said) right now the NUK generators don't decay.

Cheers,

~Claw

[Drew Kerman]

right now the NUK generators don't decay.

Cool, so then any resources or someone who knows how much they would decay over time? It would be simple to approximate then and just manually update the VESSEL structure for the craft in the SFS file whenever you want to switch to it for operations.

[metaphor]

Most real-life RTGs use plutonium 238 with a half-life of about 90 years (half the power is decayed after 90 years), but there's other parts besides the plutonium that degrade faster. Maybe ~40 year half-life would be more reasonable.