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This paper describes potential heat rejection design concepts for Brayton power conversion systems. Brayton conversion systems are currently under study by NASA for Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP) and surface power applications. The Brayton Heat Rejection Subsystem (HRS) must dissipate waste heat generated by the power conversion system due to inefficiencies in the thermal-to-electric conversion process. Sodium potassium (NaK) and H2O are two coolant working fluids that have been investigated in the design of a pumped loop and heat pipe space HRS. In general NaK systems are high temperature (300 to 1000 K) low pressure systems, and H2O systems are low temperature (300 to 600 K) high pressure systems. NaK is an alkali metal with health and safety hazards that require special handling procedures. On the other hand, H2O is a common fluid, with no health hazards and no special handling procedures. This paper compares NaK and H2O for the HRS pumped loop coolant working fluid. A detailed excel analytical model, HRS_Opt, was developed to evaluate the various HRS design parameters. It is capable of analyzing NaK or H2O coolant, parallel or series flow configurations, and numerous combinations of other key parameters (heat pipe spacing, diameter and radial flux, radiator facesheet thickness, fluid duct system pressure drop, system rejected power, etc.) of the HRS. This paper compares NaK against water for the HRS coolant working fluid with respect to the relative mass, performance, design and implementation issues between the two fluids. © 2006 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the primary goals in designing a fission power system is to ensure that the system can be developed at a low cost and on an acceptable schedule without compromising reliability. The Heatpipe Power System (HPS) is one possible approach for producing near-term, low-cost, space fission power. The Heatpipe Operated Moon Exploration Reactor (HOMER-25) is a HPS designed to produce 25-kWe on the lunar surface for 5 full-power years. The HOMER-25 core is made up of 93% enriched UO2 fuel pins and stainless-steel (SS)/potassium (K) heatpipes in a SS monolith. The heatpipes transport heat generated in the core through the water shield to a potassium boiler, which drives six Stirling engines. The operating heatpipe temperature is 880 K and the peak fast fluence is 1.6e21 n/cm2, which is well within an established database for the selected materials. The HOMER-25 is designed to be buried in 1.5 m of lunar regolith during operation. By using technology and materials which do not require extensive technology development programs, the HOMER-25 could be developed at a relatively low cost. This paper describes the attributes, specifications, and performance of the HOMER-25 reactor system. © 2006 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center’s Early Flight Fission Test Facility (EFF-TF), provides a facility to experimentally evaluate nuclear reactor related thermal hydraulic issues through the use of non-nuclear testing. This facility provides a cost effective method to evaluate concepts/designs and support mitigation of developmental risk. Electrical resistance thermal simulators can be used to closely mimic the heat deposition of the fission process, providing axial and radial profiles. A number of experimental and design programs were underway in 2004 which include the following. Initial evaluation of the Department of Energy Los Alamos National Laboratory 19 module stainless steel/sodium heat pipe reactor with integral gas heat exchanger was operated at up to 17.5 kW of input power at core temperatures of 1000 K. A stainless steel sodium heat pipe module was placed through repeated freeze/thaw cyclic testing accumulating over 200 restarts to a temperature of 1000 K. Additionally, the design of a 37- pin stainless steel pumped sodium/potassium (NaK) loop was finalized and components procured. Ongoing testing at the EFF-TF is geared towards facilitating both research and development necessary to support future decisions regarding potential use of space nuclear systems for space exploration. All efforts are coordinated with DOE laboratories, industry, universities, and other NASA centers. This paper describes some of the 2004 efforts. © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A nuclear space power system that consists of a solid metal nuclear reactor core with heat pipes carrying energy to a cylindrical thermoelectric converter surrounding each of the heat pipes with a heat pipe radiator surrounding the thermoelectric converter is the most simple and reliable space power system. This means no single point of failure since each heat pipe and cylindrical converter is a separate power system and if one fails it will not affect the others. The heat pipe array in the solid core is designed so that if an isolated heat pipe or even two adjacent heat pipes fail, the remaining heat pipes will still transport the core heat without undue overheating of the uranium nitride fuel. The primary emphasis in this paper is on simplicity, reliability and fabricability of such a space nuclear power source. The core and heat pipes are made of Niobium 1% Zirconium alloy (Nb1Zr), with rhenium lined fuel tubes, bonded together by hot isostatic pressure, (HIPing) and with sodium as the heat pipe working fluid, can be operated up to 1250K. The cylindrical thermoelectric converter is made by depositing the constituents of the converter around a Nb1%Zr tube and encasing it in a Nb 1% Zr alloy tube and HIPing the structure to get final bonding and to produce residual compressive stresses in all brittle materials in the converter. A radiator heat pipe filled with potassium that operates at 850K is bonded to the outside of the cylindrical converter for cooling. The solid core heat pipe and cylindrical converter are mated by welding during the final assembly. A solid core reactor with 150 heat pipes with a 0.650-inch (1.65 cm) ID and a 30-inch (76.2 cm) length with an output of 8 Watts per square inch as demonstrated by the SP100 PD2 cell tests will produce about 80 KW of electrical power. An advanced solid core reactor made with molybdenum 47% rhenium alloy, with lithium heat pipes and the PD2 theoretical output of 11 watts per square inch or advanced higher temperature converter to operate at 1350K could produce a greater output of approximately 100KW. © 2006 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safety options for surface reactors of less than 800 kW (thermal power) are analyzed. The concepts under consideration are heat pipe cooled reactors fueled with either uranium nitride or uranium dioxide. This study investigates the impact of launch accident criteria on the system mass, while ensuring the mechanical integrity and reliability of the system through launch accident scenarios. The four criticality scenarios analyzed for shutdown determination are dry sand surround with reflectors stripped, water submersion on concrete, water submersion with all control drums in, and the nominal shutdown reactor condition. Additionally the following two operational criteria are analyzed: reactor is warm and swelled, and reactor is warm and swelled with one drum in (where swelled includes both thermal mechanical expansion and irradiation induced swelling of the fuel). © 2006 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high temperature water heat pipes radiator design is developed for a space power system with a sectored gas-cooled reactor and three Closed Brayton Cycle (CBC) engines, for avoidance of single point failures in reactor cooling and energy conversion and rejection. The CBC engines operate at turbine inlet and exit temperatures of 1144 K and 952 K. They have a net efficiency of 19.4% and each provides 30.5 kWe of net electrical power to the load. A He-Xe gas mixture serves as the turbine working fluid and cools the reactor core, entering at 904 K and exiting at 1149 K. Each CBC loop is coupled to a reactor sector, which is neutronically and thermally coupled, but hydraulically decoupled to the other two sectors, and to a NaK-78 secondary loop with two water heat pipes radiator panels. The segmented panels each consist of a forward fixed segment and two rear deployable segments, operating hydraulically in parallel. The deployed radiator has an effective surface area of 203 m2, and when the rear segments are folded, the stowed power system fits in the launch bay of the DELTA-IV Heavy launch vehicle. For enhanced reliability, the water heat pipes operate below 50% of their wicking limit; the sonic limit is not a concern because of the water, high vapor pressure at the temperatures of interest (384 – 491 K). The rejected power by the radiator peaks when the ratio of the lengths of evaporator sections of the longest and shortest heat pipes is the same as that of the major and minor widths of the segments. The shortest and hottest heat pipes in the rear segments operate at 491 K and 2.24 MPa, and each rejects 154 W. The longest heat pipes operate cooler (427 K and 0.52 MPa) and because they are 69% longer, reject more power (200 W each). The longest and hottest heat pipes in the forward segments reject the largest power (320 W each) while operating at ∼ 46% of capillary limit. The vapor temperature and pressure in these heat pipes are 485 K and 1.97 MPa. By contrast, the shortest water heat pipes in the forward segments operate much cooler (427 K and 0.52 MPa), and reject a much lower power of 45 W each. The radiator with six fixed and 12 rear deployable segments rejects a total of 324 kWth, weights 994 kg and has an average specific power of 326 Wth/kg and a specific mass of 5.88 kg/m2. © 2006 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]