Feasibility of Ground Testing a Moon and Mars Surface Power Reactor in EBR-II

Conference · Wed Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 2006

OSTI ID:911175

Morton, Sheryl; Baily, Carl; Hill, Tom; Werner, Jim

Ground testing of a surface fission power system would be necessary to verify the design and validate reactor performance to support safe and sustained human exploration of the Moon and Mars. The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has several facilities that could be adapted to support a ground test. This paper focuses on the feasibility of ground testing at the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II) facility and using other INL existing infrastructure to support such a test. This brief study concludes that the INL EBR-II facility and supporting infrastructure are a viable option for ground testing the surface power system. It provides features and attributes that offer advantages to locating and performing ground testing at this site, and it could support the National Aeronautics and Space Administration schedules for human exploration of the Moon. This study used the initial concept examined by the U.S. Department of Energy Inter-laboratory Design and Analysis Support Team for surface power, a lowtemperature, liquid-metal, three-loop Brayton power system. With some facility modification, the EBR-II can safely house a test chamber and perform long-term testing of the space reactor power system. The INL infrastructure is available to receive and provide bonded storage for special nuclear materials. Facilities adjacent to EBR-II can provide the clean room environment needed to assemble and store the test article assembly, disassemble the power system at the conclusion of testing, and perform posttest examination. Capability for waste disposal is also available at the INL.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE - NE
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-99ID13727
• OSTI ID: 911175
• Report Number(s): INL/CON-05-00768
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
BREEDER REACTORS
CLEAN ROOMS
DESIGN
EXPLORATION
FISSION
INL
MARS PLANET
MOON
Mars
Moon
NASA
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems
PERFORMANCE
POWER REACTORS
POWER SYSTEMS
SCHEDULES
STORAGE
TESTING
WASTE DISPOSAL
nuclear
space
surface power reactor