Promethus Hot Leg Piping Concept

Technical Report · Tue Jan 24 00:00:00 EST 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/881289· OSTI ID:881289

Girbik, AM; Dilorenzo, PA

The Naval Reactors Prime Contractor Team (NRPCT) recommended the development of a gas cooled reactor directly coupled to a Brayton energy conversion system as the Space Nuclear Power Plant (SNPP) for NASA's Project Prometheus. The section of piping between the reactor outlet and turbine inlet, designated as the hot leg piping, required unique design features to allow the use of a nickel superalloy rather than a refractory metal as the pressure boundary. The NRPCT evaluated a variety of hot leg piping concepts for performance relative to SNPP system parameters, manufacturability, material considerations, and comparison to past high temperature gas reactor (HTGR) practice. Manufacturability challenges and the impact of pressure drop and turbine entrance temperature reduction on cycle efficiency were discriminators between the piping concepts. This paper summarizes the NRPCT hot leg piping evaluation, presents the concept recommended, and summarizes developmental issues for the recommended concept.

• Research Organization: Knolls Atomic Power Lab. (KAPL), Niskayuna, NY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC12-00SN39357
• OSTI ID: 881289
• Report Number(s): LM-05K184; TRN: US0602907
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
42 ENGINEERING
CONTRACTORS
DESIGN
DISCRIMINATORS
EFFICIENCY
ENERGY CONVERSION
EVALUATION
GAS COOLED REACTORS
HEAT RESISTING ALLOYS
NICKEL
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
PERFORMANCE
PRESSURE DROP
REFRACTORY METALS
SHIP PROPULSION REACTORS
TURBINES