@BowsacNoodle @fluffy @cjd @nanook The Soviets did this. I don't know for certain the fate of the project; I've heard shit like "they're all leaky and some of them still work" and I haven't looked into it.

One issue, and you hit this issue with nuclear batteries in probes and satellites because you don't have the ability to get rid of heat the same way you can on earth, is that with a nuclear reaction, you don't get to slow down, you can't, like, shovel more or less coal: there's heat or electricity coming out of the thing, you've gotta figure out what to do with it during off-peak hours. A lot of plants just supplement with gas generators for peak hours and use the nuclear plant for the base level.