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Thermionics Quo Vadis? An Assessment of the DTRA's Advanced Thermionics Research and Development Program (2001) / Chapter Skim
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5 Nuclear Thermionics
Pages 43-49

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From page 43...
... The technical uncertainty in developing an operational system that could achieve the desired performance is especially high for power systems that use thermionic converters powered by nuclear reactors. There is no capability in the United States to test nuclear thermionic fuel materials for fuel swelling issues because those fast-flux test facilities were deactivated.
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From page 44...
... The 1996 TOPAZ committee found that the TOPAZ International Program had no formal mechanisms to record and archive the technical knowledge gained from the space power nuclear reactor technology efforts so that it would be accessible for future efforts. There is still no formal archival method being used today in the DTRA thermionics program.
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From page 45...
... It will not, for example, be possible for the sponsoring agency to design a solar thermionic system that simultaneously addresses issues such as the radiation damage to materials and mechanical stress caused by nuclear fuel swelling. However, for a viable nuclear thermionic system to be built, those are exactly the issues that must be addressed.
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From page 46...
... With a TFE designed for radiative heating, a vacuum gap electrically isolates the nuclear fuel from the thermionic converters. An electrical heat source is then used to mimic the radiative heat properties of a nuclear heat source.
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From page 47...
... High power requirements, near or exceeding 100 kilowatts, may require the use of nuclear reactors, depending on the specific mission. In general, thermionic converters would not be used with radioisotope heat sources because other conversion devices are better suited to operate at the lower temperatures typical of radioisotope heat sources.
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From page 48...
... , especially where solar energy is electric propulsion missions to the outer planets, and not adequately available. This is due to an economy of missions to the outer planets with high power science scale effect: little size or mass is added as power levels instruments or high information data rates.
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From page 49...
... thermionic research program that focuses on near-term solar thermionic applications, the program will be limited in its ability to achieve a nuclear thermionic capability. Previous thermionic technology programs have identified as a problem the fuel swelling that occurs over time in an in-core thermionic fuel element.
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Key Terms

  • space nuclear
  • nuclear thermionic
  • international program
  • nuclear fuel
  • thermionic fuel

  • thermionic converter
  • thermionic converters
  • thermionics program
  • solar thermionic
  • fuel swelling

  • fuel element
  • nuclear reactor
  • cylindrical inverted
  • thermionics research
  • heat source

  • conductively coupled
  • power requirements
  • integrated thermionics
  • heat sources
  • topaz committee

  • inverted multicell
  • outer planets
  • thermionic applications
  • space technology
  • future space

  • power source
  • solar energy
  • thermionic research
  • conversion technologies
  • nuclear reactors


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