Double Retort System for Materials Compatibility Testing
With Naval Reactors (NR) approval of the Naval Reactors Prime Contractor Team (NRPCT) recommendation to develop a gas cooled reactor directly coupled to a Brayton power conversion system as the Space Nuclear Power Plant (SNPP) for Project Prometheus (References a and b) there was a need to investigate compatibility between the various materials to be used throughout the SNPP. Of particular interest was the transport of interstitial impurities from the nickel-base superalloys, which were leading candidates for most of the piping and turbine components to the refractory metal alloys planned for use in the reactor core. This kind of contamination has the potential to affect the lifetime of the core materials. This letter provides technical information regarding the assembly and operation of a double retort materials compatibility testing system and initial experimental results. The use of a double retort system to test materials compatibility through the transfer of impurities from a source to a sink material is described here. The system has independent temperature control for both materials and is far less complex than closed loops. The system is described in detail and the results of three experiments are presented.
- Research Organization:
- Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory (BAPL), West Mifflin, PA
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC12-00SN39357
- OSTI ID:
- 884670
- Report Number(s):
- B-MT(SPME)-26; TRN: US0603659
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
42 ENGINEERING
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
ALLOYS
COMPATIBILITY
CONTAMINATION
GAS COOLED REACTORS
HEAT RESISTING ALLOYS
IMPURITIES
INTERSTITIALS
LIFETIME
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
REACTOR CORES
REFRACTORY METALS
SHIP PROPULSION REACTORS
TEMPERATURE CONTROL
TESTING
TURBINES
NRPCT