Liquid Metal Cooled Reactor for Space Power

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The conceptual design is for a liquid metal (LM) cooled nuclear reactor that would provide heat to a closed Brayton cycle (CBC) power conversion subsystem to provide electricity for electric propulsion thrusters and spacecraft power. The baseline power level is 100 kWe to the user. For long term power generation, UN pin fuel with Nb1Zr alloy cladding was selected. As part of the SP‐100 Program this fuel demonstrated lifetime with greater than six atom percent burnup, at temperatures in the range of 1400–1500 K. The CBC subsystem was selected because of the performance and lifetime database from commercial and aircraft applications and from prior NASA and DOE space programs. The high efficiency of the CBC also allows the reactor to operate at relatively low power levels over its 15‐year life, minimizing the long‐term power density and temperature of the fuel. The scope of this paper is limited to only the nuclear components that provide heated helium‐xenon gas to the CBC subsystem. The principal challenge for the LM reactor concept was to design the reactor core, shield and primary heat transport subsystems to meet mission requirements in a low mass configuration. The LM concept design approach was to assemble components from prior programs and, with minimum change, determine if the system met the objective of the study. All of the components are based on technologies having substantial data bases. Nuclear, thermalhydraulic, stress, and shielding analyses were performed using available computer codes. Neutronics issues included maintaining adequate operating and shutdown reactivities, even under accident conditions. Thermalhydraulic and stress analyses calculated fuel and material temperatures, coolant flows and temperatures, and thermal stresses in the fuel pins, components and structures. Using conservative design assumptions and practices, consistent with the detailed design work performed during the SP‐100 Program, the mass of the reactor, shield, primary heat transport, reactor instrument and control, and additional structure totaled approximately 1100 kg.