Steady-state isotope power for deep-space explorations

Conference · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)

OSTI ID:5980744

Harms, A A; Cripps, G ^[1]

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1. McMaster Univ., Hamilton, Ontario (Canada)

Radioisotope power is essential for space explorations. While space missions lasting < 10 years appear well served by existing radioisotope power generators, deep-space missions of > 25 years require a sustained power-to-weight ratio hardly attainable for current spacecraft designs and expected mission functions. In this paper, the authors report the results of an analysis that suggests that the isotope pairs {sup 251}Cf and {sup 252}Cf, operating in a tandem reaction network, are most appropriate fuels even for space missions well in excess of 25 years. The isotopes {sup 251}Cf and {sup 252}Cf possess a rare and highly complementary set of nuclear properties: fission and neutron capture cross sections for {sup 251}Cf are exceptionally high, 4,880 and 2,700 b, respectively, providing therefore both fission energy and breeding of {sup 252}Cf, this bred {sup 252}Cf isotope possesses decay channels for both alpha decay and spontaneous fission. As a consequence of these properties, injected {sup 251}Cf can sustain a fission chain by autocatalysis as well as by spontaneous fission.

• OSTI ID: 5980744
• Report Number(s): CONF-910603-; CODEN: TANSA
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States), Vol. 63; Conference: Annual meeting of the American Nuclear Society (ANS), Orlando, FL (United States), 2-6 Jun 1991; ISSN 0003-018X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
07 ISOTOPES AND RADIATION SOURCES
CALIFORNIUM 251 TARGET
NEUTRON REACTIONS
SPONTANEOUS FISSION
CALIFORNIUM 252
FISSION
CAPTURE
SPACE FLIGHT
RADIOISOTOPE BATTERIES
SPACE POWER REACTORS
CROSS SECTIONS
DESIGN
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
NUCLEAR FUELS
POWER GENERATION
TIME DEPENDENCE
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BARYON REACTIONS
CALIFORNIUM ISOTOPES
DECAY
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ENERGY SOURCES
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FUELS
HADRON REACTIONS
HEAVY NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
MATERIALS
MOBILE REACTORS
NUCLEAR DECAY
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEI
NUCLEON REACTIONS
POWER REACTORS
RADIOISOTOPES
REACTOR MATERIALS
REACTORS
SPONTANEOUS FISSION RADIOISOTOPES
TARGETS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems
210600* - Power Reactors
Auxiliary
Mobile Package
&amp; Transportable
663590 - Nuclear Mass Ranges- A=220 &amp; Above- (1992-)
663470 - Fission- (1992-)
663430 - Nucleon-Induced Reactions &amp; Scattering- (1992-)
070300 - Isotopic Power Supplies