Design and analysis of the SAFE-400 space fission reactor

Nuclear Naval Propulsion

“…Highly enriched fuel at the 93-97 percent level is used in naval reactors to provide enough reactivity to override the xenon poison dead time, compactness as well as provide higher fuel burnup and the possibility for a single fuel loading over the useful service time of the powered ship. Table 2 shows the composition of highly enriched fuel used in nuclear propulsion as well as space reactor designs such as the SAFE-400 and the HOMER-15 designs (Poston, 2002). Most of the activity is caused by the presence of U 234 , which ends up being separated with the U 235 component during the enrichment process.…”

“…Most of the dose prior to operation from the fuel is caused by U 235 decay gammas and the spontaneous fission of U 238 . (Poston, 2002).…”

Uses of Liquid-Metal and Water Heat Pipes in Space Reactor Power Systems

“…Heat pipes have also been considered for cooling space nuclear reactors (Angelo and Buden, 1985;Ranken, 1982 andDeterman and Hagelston, 1992;Poston et al, 2002;Ring et al, 2003;Tournier and ElGenk, 2004;El-Genk and Tournier, 2004a;El-Genk 1994, 2008a). An example is demonstrated in the conceptual design of the 110 kWe, Scalable AMTEC Integrated Reactor Space Power System (SAIRS) (ElGenk and Tournier, 2004a;El-Genk, 2008a).…”

“…A number of space reactor power system concepts have been developed or proposed with liquidmetal heat pipes for the passive and redundant removal and transport of the fission power generated in the reactor to the energy conversion subsystem (Angelo and Buden, 1985;El-Genk, 1994 and2008b;Ranken, 1982 andDeterman and Hagelston, 1992;, Poston et al, 2002;Ring et al, 2003; These heat pipes have also been considered for transporting waste heat from the energy conversion subsystems, and redundant and enhanced performance of heat rejection radiators. Energy conversion options considered for uses in space reactor power systems include Free-Piston Stirling Engine, FPSE (e.g., Angelo and Buden, 1985;Moriarty and Determan, 1989;Schreiber, 2001;Thieme et al, 2002 and2004;Schmitz et al, 1994 and2005), Thermoelectric (e.g., Ranken, 1982;Moriarty and Determan, 1989;Josloff et al, 1994;Marriott and Fujita, 1994;Caillat et al, 2000;Saber, 2003 and2005;Tournier, 2006b, El-Genk, 2008), Closed Brayton Cycle (CBC) with rotating turbo-machines (e.g., Harty and Mason, 1993;Shepard et al, 1994;Barrett and Reid, 2004;Barrett and Johnson, 2005;Gallo and El-Genk, 2009;El-Genk et al 2010;El-Genk, 1994 and2008), Potassium Rankine cycle (Angelo and Buden, 1985;Yoder and Graves, 1985;Bevard and Yoder, 2003), Thermionic (e.g., El-Genk and Paramonov, 1999;Ranken, 1990;…”

Ground Test Facility for Propulsion and Power Modes of Nuclear Engine Operation

“…Specifically, the NASA Science Definition Team reports a space system composed of three basic modules including the reactor module providing over 100 kW of continuous power with notional heat pipe cooled reactor, its radiation shield, two Brayton Power Conversion Units, the reactor instrumentation and controls [6]. Los Alamos National Laboratory proposed a SAFE-400 space fission fast reactor concept [7] including a 400 kWt Heatpipe Power System (HPS) producing 100 kWe to power the JIMO space system using two Brayton American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics power systems -gas turbines driven directly by the hot gas from the reactor. The HPS fast reactors have been developed since 1994 at the Los Alamos National Laboratory as a robust system with emphasis on high reliability and safety.…”