Travis replied to me:
Question: As RTG life-spans are unaffected by usage, would escape pods with RTGs usually be hooked into the station power system either as a supplemental or backup power supply? How much impact would this likely have on the power systems of either stations or ships?(I suspect it could range from trivial for large cargo haulers to massive for cruise ships)
If RTGs at this tech level are traditional isotope batteries, then it doesn't help not to use them. The isotopes decay and produce heat. Their endurance is 14 years, so one would swap them out every 12 or 13 years. That averages $3k per year.
And the pods will have almost no power use while they are docked. No thrusters, life support powered down, no radio, minimal electronics.
Power management gets more problematic for the escape capsules which I posted some weeks ago. They have cryonic capsules which could be used for years at a time, so the safe decision would be to swap the RTG every two or three years. Alternatively, use a house rule that RTG output gets reduced after 14 years instead of stopping it completely.
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