Results of 30 kWt Safe Affordable Fission Engine (SAFE-30) primary heat transport testing

Pedersen, Kevin; Dyke, Melissa Van; Houts, Michael G.; Godfroy, Tom; Martin, James A.; Dickens, Ricky; Williams, Eric; Harper, Roger; Salvil, Pat; Reid, Bob

doi:10.1063/1.1358016

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…The engine, a more or less standard model from the Stirling Technology Corporation, was joined to an electrically heated heat pipe array in a vacuum chamber to generate about 300 W in a non-nuclear demonstration. 12 This is far from levels needed for the MMW mission. Scaling to larger power levels is difficult because the key to Stirling cycle efficiency is the capture and recycling of heat, which, by its nature, is limited in the speed and volumes over which it can proceed.…”

Section: Stirling Cyclementioning

confidence: 99%

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Multi Megawatt Power System Analysis Report

Longhurst¹,

Harvego²,

Schnitzler³

et al. 2001

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Missions to the outer planets or to near-by planets requiring short times and/or increased payload carrying capability will benefit from nuclear power. A concept study was undertaken to evaluate options for a multi-megawatt power source for nuclear electric propulsion. The nominal electric power requirement was set at 15 MW e with an assumed mission profile of 120 days at full power, 60 days in hot standby, and another 120 days of full power, repeated several times for 7 years of service. Of the numerous options considered, two that appeared to have the greatest promise were a gas-cooled reactor based on the NERVA Derivative design, operating a closed cycle Brayton power conversion system; and a molten lithium-cooled reactor based on SP-100 technology, driving a boiling potassium Rankine power conversion system. This study examined the relative merits of these two systems, seeking to optimize the specific mass. Conclusions were that either concept appeared capable of approaching the specific mass goal of 3-5 kg/kW e estimated to be needed for this class of mission, though neither could be realized without substantial development in reactor fuels technology, thermal radiator mass efficiency, and power conversion and distribution electronics and systems capable of operating at high temperatures. Though the gas-Brayton systems showed an apparent advantage in specific mass, differences in the degree of conservatism inherent in the models used suggests expectations for the two approaches may be similar. Brayton systems eliminate the need to deal with two-phase flows in the microgravity environment of space.iii CONTENTS

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Section: Stirling Cyclementioning

confidence: 99%

“…A lower power concept presently under development at the Marshall Space Flight Center uses heat pipes to drive a Stirling cycle engine for the production of electrical power. 12 Neither the heat pipe system nor Stirling engine technology scale well to the MW e level.…”

Section: Other Cooling Optionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi Megawatt Power System Analysis Report

Longhurst¹,

Harvego²,

Schnitzler³

et al. 2001

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“…Several heat pipe cooled reactors designed for exploring mars surface and lunar surface are designed by China Institute of Atomic Energy, the mars surface power plant, and HPCMR . SAFE‐30 reactor system provides 30 kW electricity generated by Stirling engine. It was designed by Los Alamos National Laboratory and had been tested in NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal‐hydraulic design features of a micronuclear reactor power source applied for multipurpose

et al. 2019

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Summary Microheat pipe cooled reactor power source (HRP) designed for space or underwater vehicles meets the future demands, such as safer structure, longer operating time, and fewer mechanical moving parts. In this paper, potassium heat pipe cooled reactor power source system which generates 50 kWe electricity is proposed. The reactor core using uranium nitride fuel is cooled by 37 potassium high‐temperature heat pipes. The shields are designed as tungsten and water, and reactor reactivity is controlled by control drums. The thermoelectric generator (TEG) consists of thermoelectric conversion units and seawater cooler. The thermoelectric conversion units convert thermal energy to electric energy through the high‐performance thermoelectric material. A code applied for designing and analyzing the reactor power system is developed. It consists of multichannel reactor core model, heat pipe model using thermal resistance network, thermoelectric conversion, and thermal conductivity model. Then, the sensitivity analysis is performed on two key parameters including the length of the heat pipe condensation section and the cold junction temperature of the TE cell. Meanwhile, the steady‐state calculations are conducted. Results show that the maximum fuel temperature is 938 K located in the center of reactor core and the outlet temperature of coolant reaches 316 K. Both of them are within the limitation. It is concluded that the preliminary design of HPR design is reasonable and reliable. The designed residual heat removal system has sufficient safety margin to release the decay heat of the reactor. This research provides valuable analysis for the application of micronuclear power source.

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Nuclear systems for Mars exploration

Balint

2004 IEEE Aerospace Conference Proceedings (IEEE Cat. No.04TH8720)

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Results of 30 kWt Safe Affordable Fission Engine (SAFE-30) primary heat transport testing

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Multi Megawatt Power System Analysis Report

Multi Megawatt Power System Analysis Report

Thermal‐hydraulic design features of a micronuclear reactor power source applied for multipurpose

Nuclear systems for Mars exploration

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