Year: 1988
Type: article
Abstract: There has been a renewal of interest in Direct Nuclear Propulsion (DNP) because of the Air Force Forecast II recommendation for the development of the technology. Several nuclear concepts have been proposed to meet the Direct Nuclear Propulsion challenge. In this paper we will present results of an initial study of the potential of a cermet fueled nuclear system in providing the desired DNP capabilities and featuring a set of unique safety characteristics. The concept of cermet fuel for DNP applications was first developed by ANL and GE working independently more than 20 years ago. The two organizations came to several remarkably consistent conclusions. The present work has consisted of collecting a unified set of design parameters from the set of design results produced in the earlier work. The conclusion of this exercise was that a cermet-fueled DNP design looked extremely promising from performance and safety considerations and that it deserves serious consideration when the decision to develop one or more concepts for DNP is made.
Authors: Samit Bhattacharyya, Liam Carlson, K.D. Kuczen, N. A. Hanan, R.G. Palmer, J. Von Hoomissen, Weihsueh A. Chiu, R. Haaland
Language: English
Subfield: Aerospace Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W182631368