In-pile testing on thermionic space nuclear power fuel using a TRIGA reactor
- General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
The U. S. Department of Energy is sponsoring a thermionic technology development program at General Atomics (GA) to address the feasibility issues associated with the use of thermionic fuel elements (TFE) for space based nuclear power systems. The technology program being carried out at GA during the 1980s is aimed at investigating lifetime issues of the fuelled emitter and insulator materials proposed for use in thermionic reactor based space power systems, both experimentally and analytically, with a goal towards developing a TFE with a lifetime of at least seven years. The experimental investigations of TFE lifetime issues consist of performing in-pile irradiations on prototype units using the 1.5 Mw TRIGA Mark F research reactor to validate TFE emitter deformation models and to measure the amount of emitter deformation as a function of fuel burnup, temperature and emitter thickness. To this end, nine thermionic emitters, fueled with uranium oxide and contained in three irradiation capsules, have been designed and fabricated to date, and are being tested in-core in the Mark F to study emitter materials integrity under irradiation conditions. In addition, a capsule consisting of only insulator test articles has also been irradiated in the Mark F to study insulator materials integrity under irradiation and applied voltage.
- Research Organization:
- General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 21165918
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US-09N0295; TOC-20; Contract DE-AC03-86SF16298; TRN: US09N0321042498
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 11. biennial U.S. TRIGA users' conference, Washington, DC (United States), 10-13 Apr 1988; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); 2 refs, 6 figs, 1 tab; Related Information: In: 11. biennial U.S. TRIGA users' conference. Papers and abstracts, 426 pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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In-core thermionic technology development program
Related Subjects
DEFORMATION
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
IRRADIATION
IRRADIATION CAPSULES
LIFETIME
NUCLEAR POWER
POWER SYSTEMS
SPACE
TESTING
THERMIONIC EMITTERS
THERMIONIC FUEL ELEMENTS
THERMIONIC REACTORS
THICKNESS
TRIGA TYPE REACTORS
URANIUM OXIDES
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems