Benefit of Lunar Regolith on Reflector Mass Savings

Journal Article · Tue Jan 30 04:00:00 EST 2007 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2437453· OSTI ID:21054537

Hatton, Steven A; El-Genk, Mohamed S ^[1]

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1. Institute for Space and Nuclear Power Studies, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001 (United States)

The 2004 NASA Vision for Space Exploration calls for the return of mankind to the moon by no later than 2020, in preparation for an adventure to Mars and beyond. An envisioned lunar outpost will provide living quarters for initially 5- 10 astronauts for up to 2 weeks, and latter for science experiments, and recovery of mineral and indigenous resources for the day-to-day operation and production of propellant. These activities would require electrical and thermal powers in the order of 10's - 100's of kilowatts 24/7. Potential power options include photovoltaic, requiring massive batteries or fuel cells for energy storage during the long nights on the moon, and nuclear reactor power systems, which are much more compact and operate independent of the sun. This paper examines the benefit of using the lunar regolith as a supplemental neutron reflector on decreasing the launch mass of the Sectored Compact Reactor (SCoRe-S), developed at the Institute for Space and Nuclear Power Studies. In addition to providing at least $2.00 of hot-clean excess reactivity at the beginning of life, various SCoRe-S concepts investigated in this paper are at least $1.00 sub-critical when shutdown, and when the bare reactor cores are submerged in wet sand and flooded with seawater, following a launch abort accident. Design calculations performed using MCNP5 confirmed that using lunar regolith as supplementary reflector reduces the launch mass of the SCoRe-S cores by {approx} 34% - 35%, or 150 - 200 kg, while satisfying the above reactivity requirements.

• OSTI ID: 21054537
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 880; ISSN APCPCS; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
DESIGN
ENERGY STORAGE
FISSION
FUEL CELLS
MASS
MINERALS
MOON
NASA
NEUTRON REFLECTORS
NUCLEAR POWER
PHOTOVOLTAIC EFFECT
POWER SYSTEMS
PROPULSION
REACTIVITY
REACTOR CORES
REACTORS
SHUTDOWN
SPACE