Well, I guess the concern is if the rocket blows during take-off, which does happen in a significant percentage of cases, the nuclear material will become nasty fallouts. I’ve no idea if that threat is serious (we would have to consider the amount of nuclear fuel required, and estimate how bad the fallout would be, and multiply that by that of in-flight explosion), but I understand it can scare some people.
You’d think the safest place for nuclear engines would be in space… But of course, “nuclear” is a boo light.
Well, I guess the concern is if the rocket blows during take-off, which does happen in a significant percentage of cases, the nuclear material will become nasty fallouts. I’ve no idea if that threat is serious (we would have to consider the amount of nuclear fuel required, and estimate how bad the fallout would be, and multiply that by that of in-flight explosion), but I understand it can scare some people.