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DOE OSTI · 1634779

PARAMETRIC EVALUATION OF ALTNERNATIVE NUCLEAR PROPULSION CORES USING CURVED FUEL PLATES

Abou Jaoude, Abdalla
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Abstract

Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) holds the potential of reducing travel times for deep space missions (e.g. to Mars). Previous reactor core designs considered by the Rover/NERVA program relied on highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel contained within a hexagonal graphite matrix. An alternative layout is investigated in this paper. It consists of a circular assembly containing concentric curved plates of UN fuel. These fuel assemblies are placed within a beryllium block and reflector. Preliminary results indicate that many variations of this design are viable, with high power to mass ratio and outlet temperatures.

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22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORSCore DesignNeutronicsNuclear Thermal PropulsionSpace Reactors

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Abou Jaoude, Abdalla. 2020-04-06. PARAMETRIC EVALUATION OF ALTNERNATIVE NUCLEAR PROPULSION CORES USING CURVED FUEL PLATES. https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1634779

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