Low-enriched cermet-based fuel options for a nuclear thermal propulsion engine

Gates, Jason; Denig, A. C.; Ahmed, Rizwan; Mehta, Vedant; Kotlyar, Dan

doi:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2018.02.036

Cited by 20 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…In two different works [49,50], Kotlyar focuses on studying the design space of thermal LEU-CERMET NTP concepts. These designs use the NERVA structural concept of fuel elements and tie tube/moderating elements without changing their size and shape (i.e., a hexagonal lattice with 1.905 cm flat-to-flat distance).…”

Section: Reactor Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These designs use the NERVA structural concept of fuel elements and tie tube/moderating elements without changing their size and shape (i.e., a hexagonal lattice with 1.905 cm flat-to-flat distance). However, the matrix is changed to LEU UO 2 particles in W-CERMET [49] and LEU UN particles in Mo or MoW-CERMET [50]. In order to overcome the reactivity penalty of refractory metals, lower uranium enrichment, and the lack of moderation in the fuel compact, Kotlyar's core concepts include significantly more moderating elements (>50% depending on core size) than PEWEE-1 with more ZrH moderator and additional carbon per moderating element.…”

Section: Reactor Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nuclear Thermal Propulsion

DeHart¹,

Schunert²,

Labouré³

2022

Nuclear Reactors - Spacecraft Propulsion, Research Reactors, and Reactor Analysis Topics

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This chapter will cover the fundamentals of nuclear thermal propulsion systems, covering basic principles of operation and why nuclear is a superior option to chemical rockets for interplanetary travel. It will begin with a historical overview from early efforts in the early 1950s up to current interests, with respect to fuel types, core materials, and ongoing testing efforts. An overview will be provided of reactor types and design elements for reactor concepts or testing systems for nuclear thermal propulsion, followed by a discussion of nuclear thermal design concepts. A section on system design and modeling will be presented to discuss modeling and simulation of driving phenomena: neutronics, materials performance, heat transfer, and structural mechanics, solved in a tightly coupled multiphysics system. Finally, it will show the results of a coupled physics model for a conceptual design with simulation of rapid startup transients needed to maximize hydrogen efficiency.

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Section: Reactor Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Reactor Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nuclear Thermal Propulsion

DeHart¹,

Schunert²,

Labouré³

2022

Nuclear Reactors - Spacecraft Propulsion, Research Reactors, and Reactor Analysis Topics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The use of zirconium hydride blocks in the core has been considered (Figure 5b). Indeed, zirconium hydride has been shown by many researchers to minimize critical mass when used in conjunction with LEU fuel (see for example [Poston, 2018a], [Gates, 2018], [Steward, 2019]) as long as the quantity of materials with large thermal neutron absorption is low enough. For W-based cermet fuel, the latter constraint requires to use enriched W184 or to alloy W with a less absorbing material such as Mo.…”

Section: Moderator Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Scoping Analysis of Fuel Plate Core Configurations

Youinou

Lin

Abou-Jaoude

et al. 2020

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“…A few decades of the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union had witnessed the amount of mature and effective numerical and experimental work (Belair et al, 2013;Khatry et al, 2019;Graham, 2020) on HEU design. However, recent efforts focus on designing a feasible engine that relies on LEU fuel due to its lower cost and nuclear proliferation risk (Venneri and KIM, 2015a;Venneri and KIM, 2015b;Gates et al, 2018). In LEU design, moderator assembly is employed to cooperate with fuel assembly to support the whole structure and take some heat away.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical investigation of heat transfer characteristics of moderator assembly employed in a low-enriched uranium nuclear thermal propulsion reactor

Guan²,

Song³

et al. 2022

Front. Energy Res.

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The design of a nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) reactor based on low-enriched uranium (LEU) requires additional moderator elements in the core to physically meet the critical requirements. This design softens the core energy spectrum and can provide more thermal neutrons for the fission reaction, but the heat transfer characteristics between the fuel and moderator assembly are more complex. Aiming at the typical LEU unit design, the heat transfer mathematical model is established using the principle of heat flow diversion and superposition. The model adopts the heat transfer relationship based on STAR-CCM+ simulation rather than the empirical expression used in the past literature to improve the applicability of the model. The heat transfer coefficients in the proposed model are evaluated under different Reynolds numbers and thermal power. The deviations between the proposed model and CFD simulation are analyzed. The results show that the calculation of the heat transfer coefficient between the proposed model and the CFD simulation maintains a good consistency, most of which are within 10%. It may provide a reliable and conservative temperature estimation model for future LEU core design.

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Low-enriched cermet-based fuel options for a nuclear thermal propulsion engine

Cited by 20 publications

References 15 publications

Nuclear Thermal Propulsion

Nuclear Thermal Propulsion

Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Scoping Analysis of Fuel Plate Core Configurations

Numerical investigation of heat transfer characteristics of moderator assembly employed in a low-enriched uranium nuclear thermal propulsion reactor

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