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NASA's Kilopower nuclear reactor with Stirling converters (not an RTG) has passed key tests:
The Kilopower team conducted the experiment in four phases. The first two phases, conducted without power, confirmed that each component of the system behaved as expected. During the third phase, the team increased power to heat the core incrementally before moving on to the final phase. The experiment culminated with a 28-hour, full-power test that simulated a mission, including reactor startup, ramp to full power, steady operation and shutdown.
Throughout the experiment, the team simulated power reduction, failed engines and failed heat pipes, showing that the system could continue to operate and successfully handle multiple failures.
"We put the system through its paces," said Gibson. "We understand the reactor very well, and this test proved that the system works the way we designed it to work. No matter what environment we expose it to, the reactor performs very well."
The Kilopower project is developing mission concepts and performing additional risk reduction activities to prepare for a possible future flight demonstration. The project will remain a part of the STMD's Game Changing Development program with the goal of transitioning to the Technology Demonstration Mission program in Fiscal Year 2020.
The full system will generate 10 kW of power, but the prototype tested from November to March was designed to produce just 1 kW. The solid uranium-235 core is safe to handle.
The Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling Technology (KRUSTY) prototype exceeded almost all performance metrics.
Multiple units could power missions on the Moon, Mars, or other destinations:
"Kilopower's compact size and robustness allows us to deliver multiple units on a single lander to the surface that provides tens of kilowatts of power," NASA Associate Administrator Steve Jurczyk said in January.
Also at Beyond Nerva. 3m8s video.
Previously: NASA's Kilopower Project Testing a Nuclear Stirling Engine
Initial Tests of NASA's Kilopower Nuclear System Successful
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:29PM (2 children)
Not necessarily. There are designs and designs. Many nuclear-thermal designs just use the heat generated by decay. (Think the Pluto probe.)
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(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:54PM (1 child)
That is a radioisotope thermoelectric generator [wikipedia.org] (RTG), and as is specifically noted in the summary, Kilopower is NOT an RTG. A nuclear reactor [wikipedia.org] initiates a nuclear chain reaction, while an RTG does not. An RTG is not a nuclear reactor.
Kilopower is a nuclear fission reactor that converts heat to electricity using Stirling engines.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilopower [wikipedia.org]
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(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday May 04 2018, @12:21AM
It still doesn't automatically mean the reactor works in the critical area - a very risky regime, small fluctuations and you can go supercritical/in meltdown easy.
You can still have a hot reactor using enough mass of "short" life elements using the natural rate of decay (238Pu - 87years half-life) without even using chain reaction.
Yes, using long life isotopes is likely to require a chain reaction (thus the use of 'sub-/super-/critical regimes', they don't make sense outside the 'chain reaction' condition), but it's not necessary; for instance, if you use a controllable source of thermal neutrons, you can control the rate of reaction without requiring a chain reaction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford