[grues-dinner]

I'd say (older-generation) fission is more like having an indoor swimming pool filled with burning gasoline, but keeping the windows shut so there's only enough air for it to burn at the rate you want to heat the house.

[HPsquared]

Or a swimming pool full of those spicy rocket propellents discussed in the book Ignition! which have combustion products like hydrogen fluoride.

[grues-dinner]

Neither of the hypergolics described in Command and Control seem chill either: the fuel reacts with atmospheric water and oxygen, the oxidizer is in the highest category of poison (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.co.za/extracts/command-and-co...).

Indeed there's no such thing as a free launch, and that is rocket science.

[exe34]

"Things I will not work with" - "at this point hydrogen fluoride loses its gentle nature".

[sheepscreek]

Would love to take a look at your library.

[FiatLuxDave]

Not the poster above, but as someone who also has a copy of Ignition! in their library, I think you might enjoy the pdf version:

https://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/ignition.pd...