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Gary F. Polansky 2
(1800 to 1900 K). The waste heat, removed at 18.5 meters from the centerline of the
by the coolant system, flows past the outer reactor core.
The reactor coolant system includes a operation [2]. The initial goal of this testing
sodium-potassium (NaK) coolant, a single activity was to learn from the Russian space
EM pump, stainless steel piping, and a heat power reactor programs and integrate this
rejection radiator. The NaK coolant enters experience into U.S. space power reactor
the reactor core through a lower plenum. It efforts.
passes through the core and is heated from
470° to 570°C (743 to 843 K) by the waste As a part of the Topaz II evaluation, it was
heat from the thermionic conversion pro- decided to assess the viability of employing
cess. After passing through the core, the this reactor in a U.S. space experiment. An
NaK exits through an upper plenum and initial safety assessment was performed [3]
flows through two stainless steel pipes to the and no "show stoppers" to a U.S. flight were
radiator inlet plenum. The radiator consists identified. Studies then began to determine if
of an inlet and outlet plenum that are con- there was a useful flight experiment that
nected by 78 coolant tubes. Thin copper fins could be performed that exploited the unique
are attached to the outside of the coolant characteristics of the Topaz II. It was deter-
tubes. After flowing through the radiator, the mined that a Topaz II flight experiment could
NaK flows through two coolant pipes that contribute significantly to the knowledge
divide into three pipes each. The coolant base for nuclear electric propulsion space-
flows through the six pipes and into the EM craft environment characterization. A flight
pump. The EM pump, which is powered by program, the Nuclear Electric Propulsion
three of the TFEs, pumps the NaK back to Space Test Program (NEPSTP), was then
the reactor lower plenum. initiated under the sponsorship of the Ballis-
tic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO).
The cesium supply system provides cesium Design work on an electric propulsion space-
(Cs) to the TFE interelectrode gap. Cesium craft [4] proceeded through the preliminary
is necessary to suppress the space charge design level and the flight qualification of the
that occurs near the emitters of thermionic Topaz II reactor was examined in detail [5].
converters; suppressing this charge substan- No barriers to a successful flight were identi-
tially increases the efficiency of the con- fied. However, refocusing of the activities at
verter. The cesium supply system consists of the BMDO, combined with budgetary pres-
a cesium reservoir, a throttle valve, a cesium sures, forced the cancellation of the
plenum, and stainless steel tubing. During NEPSTP program at the end of the 1993 fis-
operation, the cesium from the reservoir cal year. The testing and evaluation of the
passes through a wick and throttle valve Topaz II continues under the Topaz Interna-
arrangement and provides cesium vapor to tional Program (TIP).
the cesium plenum where it is distributed to
all of the TFE interelectrode gaps. Cesium Despite the termination of the flight program,
vents to space through a valve at a rate of much has been learned from the Topaz eval-
0.5 g/day. uation and testing effort. The Topaz II has
been shown to be a very robust and reliable
system. A great appreciation has been
Testing and Evaluation of the Topaz II gained for the capability to perform electri-
cally heated systems tests. During the test-
The Topaz II reactor has been the subject of
ing program, several modifications to the
an extensive nonnuclear testing and evalua-
Topaz II reactor have been identified that
tion program in the U.S. for almost three
would enhance the capability of the reactor
years. A large Russian facility for performing
to support a U.S. launch. The most signifi-
electrically heated systems tests of the reac-
cant modification would replace the Russian
tor was moved from St. Petersburg, Russia
automatic control system for the reactor. The
to Albuquerque, New Mexico and returned to
existing Russian system was not flight quali- testing program has shown that the Topaz II
fied, was massive, and required forced con- radiator possesses a significant design mar-
vection cooling. An effort was begun to gin, so minor degradations in radiator perfor-
replicate the functionality of the Russian sys- mance should not adversely effect system
tem using microprocessor technology, that performance. If a specific lunar surface mis-
would integrate in a package that is consis- sion were selected, then a combination of
tent with United States spacecraft design. calculations and tests could be performed to
This effort was terminated soon after the estimate the degradation in radiator perfor-
cancellation of the NEPSTP program. mance for this application. If the degradation
in radiator performance is more than can be
Another significant modification to the Topaz accommodated by the system design mar-
II reactor would serve a safety purpose. gin, then the system operating power can be
Analysis indicates that this reactor may reduced. This would have the additional ben-
achieve nuclear criticality when immersed in efit of increasing the reactor operating life for
and flooded with water. As this violates missions not requiring the full six kW electric
United States safety practice, a modification power output.
is being considered to store a portion of the
nuclear fuel outside the reactor core. A The problem of dust on the lunar surface
mechanism would then load this portion of raises other potential problems for a system
the fuel after the spacecraft has achieved a such as the Topaz II. The reactor mechani-
sufficiently high orbit. cal systems must be evaluated to identify
systems where dust could pose a problem.
The Topaz II testing program continues in The most likely problem area involves the
Albuquerque. In the near future, at least one reactor control drum system. It will probably
of the two flight quality Topaz II units will be desirable to employ a lightweight shroud
undergo acceptance testing. As these two over the reactor unit to minimize potential
reactors are not committed to a flight pro- problems.
gram, they could become available to sup-
port other missions such as lunar Any time a reactor is employed as a power
exploration. system the issue of shielding must be con-
sidered. This issue is especially important for
manned systems, but sensitive systems
Issues for Lunar Surface Applications must be protected even in unmanned sys-
tems. Many shielding options exist and a
The use of a reactor power supply, designed
separation distance may be combined with a
to provide spacecraft power, as a lunar sur-
face power supply raises a number of variety of shielding materials to achieve the
issues. One significant issue for many pro- desired effect. This issue is examined in
posed space power reactors involves thaw- more detail in the next section.
ing the reactor coolant once the lunar
surface is reached. Fortunately, the Topaz II Another area that must be addressed before
uses a NaK eutectic coolant that will thaw the Topaz II can be used as a lunar surface
naturally during the lunar day. power supply is power transmission. As the
thermionic power system produces a rela-
Many other important issues must be tively low voltage (28V), either large cable
addressed. In order to insure proper heat masses or significant transmission losses
rejection, the radiator must be given a good must be accepted for conventional power
view of space. In addition, dust from lunar transmission over significant distances. A
surface operations could reduce the effective potential alternative to this dilemma is pre-
emissivity of the radiator. Fortunately, the sented by microwave power beaming. Sys-
terns have been proposed for lunar surface an existing crater:
applications [6], that offer transmission effi-
ciencies greater that 80% over large dis- •Mechanisms for removing heat from the
tances. Such systems could minimize the lunar regolith are built into the shield, and
required shielding and also permit power can be tested on earth.
transmission to more than one site.
•The fission power supply does not have to
be manipulated on the lunar surface.
Shielding for Lunar Surface Applications
•Regolith activation is reduced.
Fission power supplies usually require a
radiation shield to reduce radiation doses to The thermal conditions of the fission power
instruments and crew. The radiation shield supply are also maintained close to those
can be either brought from earth, or lunar seen in free space, which is important if a
materials can be used. The primary advan- system designed for use in space is used on
tage of using lunar material is that the mass the moon instead. A well-contoured shield
that must be brought from earth to the lunar can also reduce radiation scatter in these
surface can be reduced. Advantages of systems, or a standardized shield could be
bringing the radiation shield from earth used to reduce development and flight quali-
include the following: fication costs. The proposed standardized
shield has a diameter of 5 m, and the total
•The radiation shield can be well character- shield mass required to be brought from
ized before the start of the mission. earth should be on the order of 1000 kg for
360-degree man-rated shielding. The 5-m
•The handling or processing of lunar regolith shield diameter is compatible with most pro-
is not required. posed lunar landers, and should provided
adequate shielding of direct radiation for
•Shield properties and performance are not
most near-term space fission power supply
affected by variations in the available lunar
concepts. Radiation from scatter and activa-
material.
tion can also be a significant contributor to
•The fission power supply does not have to total dose, and must be evaluated for each
be buried or manipulated on the lunar sur- system. A full TOPAZ il system model
face. (including shield and radiator) has been
developed for the shielding calculations
The optimal shield may be one in which using the Monte Carlo coupled neutron, pho-
major components are brought from earth, ton, and electron transport code "MCNP" [8].
but lunar regolith is used when advanta-
geous. The fission power supply would be
integrated with the empty shield prior to TOPAZ II / Shield Model
launch, and the reactor and empty shield A schematic of the TOPAZ II and shield
would land as a single unit. The shield would model is shown in Figure 2. The TOPAZ II
then be filled with regolith, using equipment and empty shield are assumed to remain in
already required by the base. No movement their landing configuration, 2.0 m above the
of the power supply or lander would be lunar surface. The shield is then filled with
required, and the landing site could be cho- regolith either prior to manned operation or
sen without concern for the power supply. while the crew is inside a shielded habitat
The shield proposed in this paper builds on (assuming that TOPAZ II power is required
previous designs [7] and has the following to fill the shield). An as-built TOPAZ II is
advantages over schemes that rely solely on used, with no major modifications. The
burying the reactor or placing the reactor in
5
Low Temperature
Radiator Conduction Fin Heat Pipe
TOPAZ II is surrounded radially by 0.3 m of Table 1. For both neutrons and photons, the
LiH, with 0.2 m of LiH placed below the fis- dose due to scatter off the TOPAZ II shield
sion power supply. Heat generated in the LiH and radiator is also given, as is the dose due
is transported by heat pipes to the radial sur- to scatter off the shield, radiator, and lunar
face of the shield where it is radiated to surface. As shown in Table 1, a significant
space. The region beyond the LiH is filled fraction of the radiation dose at 100 m is
with lunar regolith. The regolith is assumed from radiation that scatters around the radia-
to have a density of 1.8 g/cm , and is repre-
3 tion shield, and only a small fraction of the
sentative [9] of that found in the lunar high- radiation dose is caused by radiation that
lands. Heat generated in the regolith is travels from the reactor through the shield.
conducted to borated stainless steel fins and This result indicates that future shield design
removed by the heat pipes. The borated work should focus on reducing scatter, and
stainless steel also serves to provide struc- that the shield thickness is more than ade-
tural support and reduce the thermal neutron quate for reducing the direct radiation flux.
flux in the regolith. Reducing the thermal Table 1 also gives the gamma radiation dose
neutron flux reduces the production of cap- caused by NaK activation (activated NaK in
ture-gammas, which can be important. All the radiator has a direct view of the dose
major components are included in the plane at 100 m) and the estimated radiation
detailed TOPAZ II reactor model [10], includ- dose from soil activation and fission product
ing the shield, radiator, and other compo- decay. The lithium hydride shield located
nents. between the core and the regolith will reduce
soil activation to negligible levels [7].
Calculated Radiation Dose Rate The final entries in Table 1 are the neutron
and photon dose rates at 10 m and 100 m
The neutron and photon radiation dose rates
when the shield is not filled with regolith.
at 100 m from the power supply are given in
While these dose rates are quite high, they
6
show that the unshielded reactor could be NaK (at 100 m) would be less than 0.05
operated for a short period of time in an mrem/hr, and would continue to decrease.
emergency, especially if the astronauts were Gamma radiation from fission product decay
more than 10G m from the reactor or if they also decreases rapidly after shutdown, and
were in a habitat that had its own shielding radiation from the shielded reactor would be
(for solar flares and cosmic rays). Also, even negligible (compared with the natural radia-
fairly sensitive hardware could withstand the tion environment on the moon) within a few
unshielded dose rates at 10 m for a few days after shutdown.
days; thus it should be possible to use the
TOPAZ II to power the equipment used to fill
the shield with regolith. Even with radiation Heat Generation in the Lunar Soil
scattering and NaK activation, the total Heat generation is another concern with
shielded dose rate (0.010 Rem/hr at 100 m) using lunar regolith to provide radiation
should be low enough to allow normal base shielding. The conductivity of lunar soil is
operations, assuming that the shielded habi- extremely low (on the order of 2 x 10-4 W/
tat is located at least 100 m from the reactor cm-K) [9], and effective methods for remov-
and that unshielded astronauts minimize ing heat from the lunar soil must be devised.
time spent at 100 m or less from the reactor. The heat generation rate as a function of dis-
Shield design improvements should be able tance from the core centerline is shown in
to reduce the restrictions on base operations Figure 3. As shown in the figure, the peak
even further, although it is perhaps more heat generation rate occurs in the lithium
desirable to reconfigure the radiator to hydride (which has a much higher thermal
reduce astronaut exposure to activated NaK. conductivity than regolith), although there is
In the current configuration, over 50% of the still significant heat generation in the regolith
total radiation dose to the astronauts would closest to the reactor. Heat generation in the
come from the activated NaK. The dose con- borated stainless steel is not shown,
version factors used in Table 1 were taken although it is typically several times higher
from NCRP-38, ANSI/ANS-6.1.1-1977 and than that in the adjoining lunar regolith
ICRP-21 [11,12]. because of its higher density. Heat is
removed from the lithium hydride and the
For the first few days after shutdown, acti- lunar regolith by borated stainless steel fins
vated NaK would be the dominant radiation and heat pipes. The heat pipes are sized to
source. After three days the dose from the
7
1.00E-2
1 L1H W/cm3
•
1.00E-3,!
•
~ 1.00E-5,
©
01
O)
1.00E-6,i
3J 1.00E-7.
X :
1.00E-8 n
1.00E-9J
50 100 150 200 250
Radius (cm)
Figure 3. Heat generation rate as a function of radius in the lithium hydride and lunar
regolith section if the shield.
removed from the lithium hydride and the the gamma rays that strike the dose plane
lunar regolith by borated stainless steel fins are the result of neutron capture in the
and heat pipes. The heat pipes are sized to regolith.
also remove heat generated on the inside
wall of the shield from thermal radiation heat Second, NaK activation could be a major
transfer from the space fission power supply. concern in large power supplies using a sin-
A low temperature radiator is located on the gle-loop heat-removal system. The problem
outer radial surface of the shield. A heat could be mitigated by changing the radiator
removal capability of 10 kWt (oversized for geometry (to eliminate its view of the dose
this application) results in a radiator heat flux plane) or by using a multiple-loop system
of about 600 W/m2. This low heat flux allows where NaK used to cool the core never gets
the radiator to operate at a peak temperature an unshielded view of the dose plane. An
of less than 400 K during the lunar day. The advantage of using NaK in lunar space fis-
radiator could also be designed to remove sion power supplies is that the coolant thaws
significantly more heat, especially if higher naturally during the lunar day, eliminating the
radiating temperatures (450-500 K) are need for a separate coolant thaw system.
acceptable. Third, it may be possible to increase the
effective thermal conductivity of the lunar
regolith in the regions near the core by filling
Observations on Shielding the void space between the particles with a
Several observations can be made relating low vapor pressure liquid. This approach
to the proposed shield design. First, it is would probably not be mass effective, but is
important that the thermal neutron flux be an alternative to adding fins. Fourth, radia-
kept low to reduce soil activation and the tion levels near the reactor decrease rapidly
capture-gamma rays that would be pro- after operation is ceased. Within a few days
duced. The use of lithium hydride and after shutdown, the radiation levels at the
borated stainless steel fins keeps the ther- edge of the shield are not significantly higher
mal neutron flux low, and virtually none of than those which occur naturally on the lunar
surface.
Conclusions 6 Bharj, S., S. Perlow, R. Paglione, L.
Napoli, R. Camisa.H.C. Johnson, M.
The Topaz II possesses the potential to Lurie, D. Patterson, and J. Aceti, "A Micro-
serve as a lunar surface power supply to wave Powered Rover for Space Explora-
support near-term missions. Several impor- tion in the 21st Century," 1st Annual
tant issues must still be resolved, but this
Wireless Power Transmission Confer-
resolution will depend on the characteristics
ence, San Antonio, TX, February 23-25,
of the proposed mission.
1993.
7 Lee, S., M. Houts, and J. Buksa, "Nuclear
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9
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