White Paper – Use of LEU for a Space Reactor
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Historically space reactors flown or designed for the U.S. and Russia used Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) for fuel. HEU almost always produces a small and lighter reactor. Since mass increases launch costs or decreases science payloads, HEU was the natural choice. However in today’s environment, the proliferation of HEU has become a major concern for the U.S. government and hence a policy issue. In addition, launch costs are being reduced as the space community moves toward commercial launch vehicles. HEU also carries a heavy security cost to process, test, transport and launch. Together these issues have called for a re-investigation into space reactors the use Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) fuel.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- NASA; USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1375148
- Report Number(s):
- LA--UR-17-27226
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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