Publications

A gas-cooled reactor may be coupled directly to turbomachinery to form a closed-Brayton-cycle (CBC) system in which the CBC working fluid serves as the reactor coolant. Such a system has the potential to be a very simple and robust space-reactor power system. Gas-cooled reactors have been built and operated in the past, but very few have been coupled directly to the turbomachinery in this fashion. In this paper we describe the option for testing such a system with a small reactor and turbomachinery at Sandia National Laboratories. Sandia currently operates the Annular Core Research Reactor (ACRR) at steady-state powers up to 4 MW and has an adjacent facility with heavy shielding in which another reactor recently operated. Sandia also has a closed-Brayton-Cycle test bed with a converted commercial turbomachinery unit that is rated for up to 30 kWe of power. It is proposed to construct a small experimental gas-cooled reactor core and attach this via ducting to the CBC turbomachinery for cooling and electricity production. Calculations suggest that such a unit could produce about 20 kWe, which would be a good power level for initial surface power units on the Moon or Mars. The intent of this experiment is to demonstrate the stable start-up and operation of such a system. Of particular interest is the effect of a negative temperature power coefficient as the initially cold Brayton gas passes through the core during startup or power changes. Sandia's dynamic model for such a system would be compared with the performance data. This paper describes the neutronics, heat transfer, and cycle dynamics of this proposed system. Safety and radiation issues are presented. The views expressed in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect agreement by the government. © 2005 American Institute of Physics.

This paper describes preliminary results of a dynamic system model for a closed-loop Brayton-cycle that is coupled to a nuclear reactor. The current model assumes direct coupling between the reactor and the Brayton-cycle, however only minor additions are required to couple the Brayton-cycle through a heat exchanger to either a heat pipe reactor or a liquid metal cooled reactor. Few reactors have ever been coupled to closed Brayton-cycle systems. As such their behavior under dynamically varying loads, startup and shut down conditions, and requirements for safe and autonomous operation are largely unknown. Sandia National Laboratories has developed steady-state and dynamic models for closed-loop turbo-compressor systems (for space and terrestrial applications). These models are expected to provide a basic understanding of the dynamic behavior and stability of the coupled reactor and power generation loop. The model described in this paper is a lumped parameter model of the reactor, turbine, compressor, recuperator, radiator/waste-heat-rejection system and generator. More detailed models that remove the lumped parameter simplifications are also being developed but are not presented here. The initial results of the model indicate stable operation of the reactor-driven Brayton-cycle system and its ability to load-follow. However, the model also indicates some counter-intuitive behavior for the complete coupled system. This behavior will require the use of a reactor control system to select an appropriate reactor operating temperature that will optimize the performance of the complete spacecraft system. We expect this model and subsequent versions of it to provide crucial information in developing procedures for safe start up, shut down, safe-standby, and other autonomous operating modes. Ultimately, Sandia hopes to validate these models and to perform nuclear ground tests of reactor-driven closed Brayton-cycle systems in our nuclear research facilities.

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Heat pipes are often proposed as cooling system components for small fission reactors. SAFE-300 and STAR-C are two reactor concepts that use heat pipes as an integral part of the cooling system. Heat pipes have been used in reactors to cool components within radiation tests (Deverall, 1973); however, no reactor has been built or tested that uses heat pipes solely as the primary cooling system. Heat pipe cooled reactors will likely require the development of a test reactor to determine the main differences in operational behavior from forced cooled reactors. The purpose of this paper is to describe the results of a systems code capable of modeling the coupling between the reactor kinetics and heat pipe controlled heat transport. Heat transport in heat pipe reactors is complex and highly system dependent. Nevertheless, in general terms it relies on heat flowing from the fuel pins through the heat pipe, to the heat exchanger, and then ultimately into the power conversion system and heat sink. A system model is described that is capable of modeling coupled reactor kinetics phenomena, heat transfer dynamics within the fuel pins, and the transient behavior of heat pipes (including the melting of the working fluid). The paper focuses primarily on the coupling effects caused by reactor feedback and compares the observations with forced cooled reactors. A number of reactor startup transients have been modeled, and issues such as power peaking, and power-to-flow mismatches, and loading transients were examined, including the possibility of heat flow from the heat exchanger back into the reactor. This system model is envisioned as a tool to be used for screening various heat pipe cooled reactor concepts, for designing and developing test facility requirements, for use in safety evaluations, and for developing test criteria for in-pile and out-of-pile test facilities.

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This paper reviews the technology options for a fission-based electric propulsion system for interstellar precursor missions. To achieve a total {Delta}V of more than 100 km/s in less than a decade of thrusting with an electric propulsion system of 10,000s Isp requires a specific mass for the power system of less than 35 kg/kWe. Three possible configurations are described: (1) a UZrH-fueled,NaK-cooled reactor with a steam Rankine conversion system,(2) a UN-fueled gas-cooled reactor with a recuperated Brayton conversion system, and (3) a UN-fueled heat pipe-cooled reactor with a recuperated Brayton conversion system. All three of these systems have the potential to meet the specific mass requirements for interstellar precursor missions in the near term. Advanced versions of a fission-based electric propulsion system might travel as much as several light years in 200 years.

Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) are a recently-discovered set of solar system bodies which lie at about the orbit of Pluto (40 AU) out to about 100 astronomical units (AU). There are estimated to be about 100,000 KBOS with a diameter greater than 100 km. KBOS are postulated to be composed of the pristine material which formed our solar system and may even have organic materials in them. A detailed study of KBO size, orbit distribution, structure, and surface composition could shed light on the origins of the solar system and perhaps even on the origin of life in our solar system. A rendezvous mission including a lander would be needed to perform chemical analysis of the surface and sub-surface composition of KBOS. These requirements set the size of the science probe at around a ton. Mission analyses show that a fission-powered system with an electric thruster could rendezvous at 40 AU in about 13.0 years with a total {Delta}V of 46 krnk. It would deliver a 1000-kg science payload while providing ample onboard power for relaying data back to earth. The launch mass of the entire system (power, thrusters, propellant, navigation, communication, structure, science payload, etc.) would be 7984 kg if it were placed into an earth-escape trajectory (C=O). Alternatively, the system could be placed into a 700-km earth orbit with more propellant,yielding a total mass in LEO of 8618 kg, and then spiral out of earth orbit to arrive at the KBO in 14.3 years. To achieve this performance, a fission power system with 100 kW of electrical power and a total mass (reactor, shield, conversion, and radiator) of about 2350 kg. Three possible configurations are proposed: (1) a UZrH-fueled, NaK-cooled reactor with a steam Rankine conversion system, (2) a UN-fueled gas-cooled reactor with a recuperated Brayton conversion system, and (3) a UN-fueled heatpipe-cooled reactor with a recuperated Brayton conversion system. (Boiling and condensation in the Rankine system is a technical risk at present.) All three of these systems have the potential to meet the weight requirement for the trip and to be built in the near term.

Microstructural morphology and grain boundary properties often control the service properties of engineered materials. This report uses the Potts-model to simulate the development of microstructures in realistic materials. Three areas of microstructural morphology simulations were studied. They include the development of massively parallel algorithms for Potts-model grain grow simulations, modeling of mass transport via diffusion in these simulated microstructures, and the development of a gradient-dependent Hamiltonian to simulate columnar grain growth. Potts grain growth models for massively parallel supercomputers were developed for the conventional Potts-model in both two and three dimensions. Simulations using these parallel codes showed self similar grain growth and no finite size effects for previously unapproachable large scale problems. In addition, new enhancements to the conventional Metropolis algorithm used in the Potts-model were developed to accelerate the calculations. These techniques enable both the sequential and parallel algorithms to run faster and use essentially an infinite number of grain orientation values to avoid non-physical grain coalescence events. Mass transport phenomena in polycrystalline materials were studied in two dimensions using numerical diffusion techniques on microstructures generated using the Potts-model. The results of the mass transport modeling showed excellent quantitative agreement with one dimensional diffusion problems, however the results also suggest that transient multi-dimension diffusion effects cannot be parameterized as the product of the grain boundary diffusion coefficient and the grain boundary width. Instead, both properties are required. Gradient-dependent grain growth mechanisms were included in the Potts-model by adding an extra term to the Hamiltonian. Under normal grain growth, the primary driving term is the curvature of the grain boundary, which is included in the standard Potts-model Hamiltonian.

Sandia National Laboratories is actively involved in testing coated particle nuclear fuels for the Space Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (SNTP) program managed by Phillips Laboratory. The testing program integrates the results of numerous in-pile and out-of-pile tests with modeling efforts to qualify fuel and fuel elements for the SNTP program. This paper briefly describes the capabilities of the Annular Core Research Reactor (in which the experiments are performed), the major in-pile tests, and the models used to determine the performance characteristics of the fuel and fuel elements. 6 refs.