Design of a Low Power, Fast-Spectrum, Liquid-Metal Cooled Surface Reactor System

Marcille, Thomas F.; Dixon, David; Fischer, Gaston; Doherty, Steven; Poston, David I.; Kapernick, Richard J.

doi:10.1063/1.2169208

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…The terminal velocity for the reactor power system described by Marcille [Marcille 2006] (1900 kg with water shield, no attached radiator and a diameter of 0.83 m) is about 240 m/s if falling core first. However, it takes a large initial height to achieve 240 m/s, and the launch vehicle could be over sand by that time.…”

Section: R J Lipinskimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The geometry, features, and operation of the eighty-five pin reactor used in this study as a test case are presented by Marcille et al [Marcille 2006]. The reactor was developed to provide a low cost alternative for space applications.…”

Section: Geometry and Meshingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More recently NASA has been considering fission surface power systems for a lunar base [Marcille 2006, Poston 2008, Poston 2009] NaK cooled reactor concepts with Stirling power conversion have been reported as the reference concept. Prior to this, NASA and others had considered small reactors for Mars and other missions [Elliott 2003, Lipinski 2002 In addition to the nuclear electric power systems described above, the U.S. has developed concepts and hardware for nuclear thermal propulsion systems.…”

Section: R J Lipinskimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As the approach discussed in this paper will ultimately be tested on an 85-pin reactor concept [Marcille 2006], a simplified 19-pin version of this reactor was developed for some initial model testing. Various design parameters are listed in Table 6-1 and the configuration is shown in Figure 6-1 and Figure 6-2.…”

Section: -Pin Rector Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The reactor concept reported by Marcille [Marcille 2006] was selected as a baseline design to use for testing the methodologies for impact and reactivity calculation. The 25 kWe reactor described in the Marcille paper is a liquid metal (NaK) cooled, UO 2 fueled, stainless steel clad fast reactor.…”

Section: R F Radelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Methods for modeling impact-induced reactivity changes in small reactors.

Tallman¹,

Radel²,

Smith³

et al. 2010

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This paper describes techniques for determining impact deformation and the subsequent reactivity change for a space reactor impacting the ground following a potential launch accident or for large fuel bundles in a shipping container following an accident. This technique could be used to determine the margin of subcriticality for such potential accidents. Specifically, the approach couples a finite element continuum mechanics model (Pronto3D or Presto) with a neutronics code (MCNP). DAGMC, developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is used to enable MCNP geometric queries to be performed using Pronto3D output. This paper summarizes what has been done historically for reactor launch analysis, describes the impact criticality analysis methodology, and presents preliminary results using representative reactor designs.

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Section: R J Lipinskimentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Geometry and Meshingmentioning

confidence: 99%