Hot Hydrogen Test Facility
- Idaho National Laboratory, PO Box 1625, Idaho Falls, ID 83415 (United States)
The core in a nuclear thermal rocket will operate at high temperatures and in hydrogen. One of the important parameters in evaluating the performance of a nuclear thermal rocket is specific impulse, ISP. This quantity is proportional to the square root of the propellant's absolute temperature and inversely proportional to square root of its molecular weight. Therefore, high temperature hydrogen is a favored propellant of nuclear thermal rocket designers. Previous work has shown that one of the life-limiting phenomena for thermal rocket nuclear cores is mass loss of fuel to flowing hydrogen at high temperatures. The hot hydrogen test facility located at the Idaho National Lab (INL) is designed to test suitability of different core materials in 2500 deg. C hydrogen flowing at 1500 liters per minute. The facility is intended to test low activity uranium containing materials but is also suited for testing cladding and coating materials. In this first installment the facility is described. Automated data acquisition, flow and temperature control, vessel compatibility with various core geometries and overall capabilities are discussed.
- OSTI ID:
- 21054547
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 880, Issue 1; Conference: International forum-STAIF 2007: 11. conference on thermophysics applications in microgravity; 24. symposium on space nuclear power and propulsion; 5. conference on human/robotic technology and the vision for space exploration; 5. symposium on space colonization; 4. symposium on new frontiers and future concepts, Albuquerque, NM (United States), 11-15 Feb 2007; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2437477; (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
The Mars Hopper: Development, Simulation and Experimental Validation of a Radioisotope Exploration Probe for the Martian Surface
Thermal hydraulic design analysis of ternary carbide fueled square-lattice honeycomb nuclear rocket engine