Coolant-free ultra-small compact space reactor core based on carbon nanotubes

Abstract

The invention relates to a coolant-free ultra-small compact space reactor core based on carbon nanotubes. The reactor core on the xy plane has a square shape, and a neutron source region, a fuel region, a first reflection region (including a control drum region), and a shielding region are arranged radially outwards from the center thereof, and a power generation hot end region, a shielding region, a second reflection region, a fuel region, a gas chamber, a third reflection region and a shielding region are arranged axially from upwards towards downwards in sequence. The fuel region is composed of fuel rod grid elements, the fuel rods are arranged in a square grid, the original coolant region thereof is filled with carbon nanotubes material, and the energy released by the fuel rods is transmitted to the power generation hot end region through the carbon nanotubes through heat conduction. The control drum region contains 8 cylindrical control drums, which can be rotated at different angles for realizing start-up, shutdown and steady-state operation. The reactor core has the advantages of high heat transfer efficiency, no coolant, simple and compact structure, ultra-small volume, less core charge, safety and economy.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention belongs to the technical field of nuclear reactors, and in particular relates to an ultra-small and compact space reactor core which adopts carbon nanotubes as heat-conducting materials and has no convection heat transfer mode. Background technique [0002] With the continuous exploration of space by human beings, in more and more space missions, conventional energy (chemical energy, solar energy) can no longer meet the demand, and advanced space nuclear reactor power supply has become an inevitable or even the only choice. Compared with conventional chemical energy, nuclear energy has a higher power density, and its excellent performance advantages make it suitable as a power supply solution for nuclear reactors in various civil space missions such as deep space exploration, star bases, and earth orbit applications. As early as the 1960s, the two superpowers of the United States and the former Soviet Union had successfully applied nuclea...

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Problems solved by technology

The currently designed space reactor does not use carbon nanotubes as heat-conducting materials, and the proposed cooling method mainly adopts convective heat transfer. The core of small compact space reactor (the concept of ultra-small reactor was proposed by the special working group of the US National Defense Council, referring to the reactor with output power less than 10 megawatts) has not been reported in the literature

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