A heat pipe nuclear reactor design concept is being investigated for space power applications. The reactor can be coupled to a variety of high-temperature (1200-1700 K) electrical conversion systems such as thermoelectric, thermionic, and Brayton cycle converters. It is designed to operate in the power range 0.1-3 MW for lifetimes of about 10 years. The reactor is a fast spectrum, compact assembly of hexagonal fuel elements, each cooled by an axial molybdenum heat pipe and loaded with fully enriched UC-ZrC or Mo-UO2 Reactor control ist provided in the radial reflector. A comparison of several power plants employing the heat pipe reactor concept is presented for an output power level of 50 kW. (Se)


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    Title :

    Heat pipe nuclear reactors for space applications


    Additional title:

    Waermeleitrohr-Kernreaktor fuer Raumfahrt-Anwendungen


    Contributors:
    Koenig, D.R. (author) / Ranken, W.A. (author)


    Publication date :

    1978


    Size :

    7 Seiten, 6 Bilder, 3 Tabellen, 18 Quellen


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English




    Heat pipe nuclear reactors for space applications

    KOENIG, D. / RANKEN, W. | AIAA | 1978


    Heat-Pipe Reactors for Space Power Applications

    Daniel R. Koenig / William A. Ranken / Ernest W. Salmi | AIAA | 1977


    Heat pipe reactors for space power applications

    KOENIG, D. / RANKEN, W. / SALMI, E. | AIAA | 1977



    Space Nuclear Multi-Mode Reactors

    Caveny, Leonard H. | AIAA | 1984