Thermal-hydraulics and safety analysis of sectored compact reactor for lunar surface power
- Inst. for Space and Nuclear Power Studies, Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
The liquid NaK-cooled, fast-neutron spectrum, Sectored Compact Reactor (SCoRe-N 5) concept has been developed at the Univ. of New Mexico for lunar surface power applications. It is loaded with highly enriched UN fuel pins in a triangular lattice, and nominally operates at exit and inlet coolant temperatures of 850 K and 900 K. This long-life reactor generates up to 1 MWth continuously for {>=} 20 years. To avoid a single point failure in reactor cooling, the core is divided into 6 sectors that are neutronically and thermally coupled, but hydraulically independent. This paper performs a 3-D the thermal-hydraulic analysis of SCoRe--N 5 at nominal operation temperatures and a power level of 1 MWth. In addition, the paper investigates the potential of continuing reactor operation at a lower power in the unlikely event that one sector in the core experiences a loss of coolant (LOC). Redesigning the core with a contiguous steel matrix enhances the cooling of the sector experiencing a LOC. Results show that with a core sector experiencing a LOC, SCORE-N 5 could continue operating safely at a reduced power of 166.6 kWth. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22106038
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ICAPP '12: 2012 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants, Chicago, IL (United States), 24-28 Jun 2012; Other Information: Country of input: France; 13 refs.; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 2012 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants - ICAPP '12| 2799 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
FAST NEUTRONS
FUEL PINS
LIQUID METAL COOLED REACTORS
LOSS OF COOLANT
MOON
POTASSIUM ALLOYS
REACTOR CORES
REACTOR OPERATION
SAFETY ANALYSIS
SODIUM ALLOYS
SPACE POWER REACTORS
THERMAL HYDRAULICS
URANIUM NITRIDES
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems