The Role of Nuclear Power and Nuclear Propulsion in the Peaceful
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The Role of Nuclear Power and Nuclear Propulsion in the Peaceful Exploration of Space THE ROLE OF NUCLEAR POWER AND NUCLEAR PROPULSION IN THE PEACEFUL EXPLORATION OF SPACE The following States are Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency: AFGHANISTAN GREECE PAKISTAN ALBANIA GUATEMALA PANAMA ALGERIA HAITI PARAGUAY ANGOLA HOLY SEE PERU ARGENTINA HONDURAS PHILIPPINES ARMENIA HUNGARY POLAND AUSTRALIA ICELAND PORTUGAL AUSTRIA INDIA QATAR AZERBAIJAN INDONESIA REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA BANGLADESH IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF ROMANIA BELARUS IRAQ RUSSIAN FEDERATION BELGIUM IRELAND SAUDI ARABIA BENIN ISRAEL SENEGAL BOLIVIA ITALY SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA JAMAICA SEYCHELLES BOTSWANA JAPAN SIERRA LEONE BRAZIL JORDAN SINGAPORE BULGARIA KAZAKHSTAN SLOVAKIA BURKINA FASO KENYA SLOVENIA CAMEROON KOREA, REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA CANADA KUWAIT SPAIN CENTRAL AFRICAN KYRGYZSTAN SRI LANKA REPUBLIC LATVIA SUDAN CHILE LEBANON SWEDEN CHINA LIBERIA SWITZERLAND COLOMBIA LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC COSTA RICA LIECHTENSTEIN TAJIKISTAN CÔTE D’IVOIRE LITHUANIA THAILAND CROATIA LUXEMBOURG THE FORMER YUGOSLAV CUBA MADAGASCAR REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA CYPRUS MALAYSIA TUNISIA CZECH REPUBLIC MALI TURKEY DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC MALTA UGANDA OF THE CONGO MARSHALL ISLANDS UKRAINE DENMARK MAURITANIA UNITED ARAB EMIRATES DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MAURITIUS UNITED KINGDOM OF ECUADOR MEXICO GREAT BRITAIN AND EGYPT MONACO NORTHERN IRELAND EL SALVADOR MONGOLIA UNITED REPUBLIC ERITREA MOROCCO OF TANZANIA ESTONIA MYANMAR UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ETHIOPIA NAMIBIA URUGUAY FINLAND NETHERLANDS UZBEKISTAN FRANCE NEW ZEALAND VENEZUELA GABON NICARAGUA VIETNAM GEORGIA NIGER YEMEN GERMANY NIGERIA ZAMBIA GHANA NORWAY ZIMBABWE The Agency’s Statute was approved on 23 October 1956 by the Conference on the Statute of the IAEA held at United Nations Headquarters, New York; it entered into force on 29 July 1957. The Headquarters of the Agency are situated in Vienna. Its principal objective is “to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world’’. THE ROLE OF NUCLEAR POWER AND NUCLEAR PROPULSION IN THE PEACEFUL EXPLORATION OF SPACE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA, 2005 COPYRIGHT NOTICE All IAEA scientific and technical publications are protected by the terms of the Universal Copyright Convention as adopted in 1952 (Berne) and as revised in 1972 (Paris). The copyright has since been extended by the World Intellectual Property Organization (Geneva) to include electronic and virtual intellectual property. Permission to use whole or parts of texts contained in IAEA publications in printed or electronic form must be obtained and is usually subject to royalty agreements. Proposals for non-commercial reproductions and translations are welcomed and will be considered on a case by case basis. Enquiries should be addressed by email to the Publishing Section, IAEA, at [email protected] or by post to: Sales and Promotion Unit, Publishing Section International Atomic Energy Agency Wagramer Strasse 5 P.O. Box 100 A-1400 Vienna Austria fax: +43 1 2600 29302 tel.: +43 1 2600 22417 http://www.iaea.org/books © IAEA, 2005 Printed by the IAEA in Austria September 2005 STI/PUB/1197 IAEA Library Cataloguing in Publication Data The role of nuclear power and nuclear propulsion in the peaceful exploration of space. — Vienna : International Atomic Energy Agency, 2005. p. ; 24 cm. STI/PUB/1197 ISBN 92–0–107404–2 Includes bibliographical references. 1. Nuclear propulsion. 2. Outer space — Exploration. I. International Atomic Energy Agency. IAEAL 05–00413 FOREWORD This publication has been produced within the framework of the IAEA’s innovative reactor and fuel cycle technology development activities. It elucidates the role that peaceful space related nuclear power research and development could play in terrestrial innovative reactor and fuel cycle technology development initiatives. This review is a contribution to the Inter- Agency Meeting on Outer Space Activities, and reflects the stepped up efforts of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space to further strengthen cooperation between international organizations in space related activities. Apart from fostering information exchange within the United Nations organizations, this publication aims at finding new potential fields for innovative reactor and fuel cycle technology development. In assessing the status and reviewing the role of nuclear power in the peaceful exploration of space, it also aims to initiate a discussion on the potential benefits of space related nuclear power technology research and development to the development of innovative terrestrial nuclear systems. The IAEA expresses its appreciation to all those who contributed to this publication, in particular to J. Graham (ETCetera Assessments LLP, United States of America), V. Ionkin (Institute for Physics and Power Engineering, Russian Federation) and N.N. Ponomarev-Stepnoi (Kurchatov Institute, Russian Federation). The IAEA officer responsible for this publication was A. Stanculescu of the Division of Nuclear Power. EDITORIAL NOTE Although great care has been taken to maintain the accuracy of information contained in this publication, neither the IAEA nor its Member States assume any responsibility for consequences which may arise from its use. The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgement by the publisher, the IAEA, as to the legal status of such countries or territories, of their authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries. The mention of names of specific companies or products (whether or not indicated as registered) does not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be construed as an endorsement or recommendation on the part of the IAEA. The authors are responsible for having obtained the necessary permission for the IAEA to reproduce, translate or use material from sources already protected by copyrights. CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION . 1 2. REGIMES FOR THE USE OF NUCLEAR POWER IN SPACE EXPLORATION . 2 3. RADIOISOTOPE POWER DEVICES . 7 3.1. TEGs . 7 3.2. Thermionic converters . 13 3.3. Soviet/Russian TEG developments . 14 3.4. Safety . 17 3.5. Future applications . 17 4. REACTORS IN SPACE . 18 4.1. US experience . 18 4.1.1. Studies of on-board nuclear reactors . 20 4.2. Soviet/Russian experience . 23 4.2.1. Romashka NPS . 23 4.2.2. BUK NPS . 26 4.2.3. TOPAZ NPS . 29 4.2.4. Yenisey (TOPAZ-2) NPS . 31 5. NUCLEAR PROPULSION SYSTEMS . 34 5.1. US directions . 36 5.1.1. Safe affordable fission engine (SAFE) . 37 5.1.2. Heat pipe operated Mars exploration reactor (HOMER) . 38 5.2. Soviet/Russian directions . 40 5.2.1. IGR reactor . 41 5.2.2. IVG-1 experimental bench reactor . 42 5.2.3. IRGIT reactor . 45 5.3. Future applications . 47 6. SAFETY . 48 7. OTHER INTERNATIONAL SPACE PROGRAMMES . 50 7.1. China . 50 7.2. France . 52 7.3. India . 53 7.4. Italy . 54 7.5. Japan . 55 8. THE FUTURE . 55 8.1. Nuclear energy for interplanetary missions . 55 8.2. International projects . 57 8.2.1. Mars Together . 57 8.2.2. TOPAZ-2 . 57 8.3. The road ahead . 60 8.4. USA: Future directions . 66 8.4.1. Variable specific impulse magneto-plasma rocket (VASIMR) . 68 8.4.2. Ion engines . 68 8.5. Russian Federation: Future directions . 69 8.5.1. Transport and energy module TEM . 70 8.5.2. Advanced thermionic NPS . 71 8.5.3. Advanced NPSs using the external energy conversion systems . 74 8.5.4. Advanced nuclear systems using lithium–niobium technology . 76 8.5.5. Gas core NTP . 77 8.5.6. Nuclear photon engines for deep space exploration . 79 8.6. New technologies through nuclear space systems engineering . 80 8.7. The value of space technology in terrestrial applications . 91 8.7.1. Research and development . 91 8.7.2. Products, equipment and materials . 92 8.8. Problems to be solved in space by the use of nuclear power . 98 9. CONCLUSIONS . 101 10. LOOKING AHEAD . 104 APPENDIX I: EVALUATION OF MARS MISSIONS . 107 APPENDIX II: SPACECRAFT LAUNCHES INVOLVING RADIOISOTOPE SYSTEMS . 108 APPENDIX III: SPACE ACHIEVEMENTS . 111 APPENDIX IV: CASSINI SPACECRAFT . 114 APPENDIX V: AMTEC . 115 APPENDIX VI: PROPULSION PERFORMANCE . 116 APPENDIX VII: THE ROVER PROGRAMME . 117 APPENDIX VIII: COMPARISON OF REACTOR SIZES. 118 APPENDIX IX: SOVIET NUCLEAR POWER SYSTEMS IN SPACE . 119 APPENDIX X: SPACE EXPLORATION AGENCIES AND CONTRACTORS . 121 APPENDIX XI: INTERNET REFERENCES . 125 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . 129 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 131 CONTRIBUTORS TO DRAFTING AND REVIEW . 133 1. INTRODUCTION It is more than 100 years since the Russian theoretician Konstantin Eduardovitch Ziolkovsky advocated the use of liquid fuel rockets for space exploration and almost 80 years since Robert Hutchings Goddard launched the first liquid fuel rocket at Auburn, Massachussetts, in the United States of America. Since then, rocket development has continued apace, largely through the endeavours of experimentalists such as Goddard, Willy Ley, Hermann Oberth, Wernher von Braun and other pioneers in both the German Society for Space Travel and the American Rocket Society. Rocket research and development was given a major boost during the Second World War when the potential of the rocket engine to provide the motive force of a long range weapon delivery system was recognized. The result was the German V-2. The trajectory of the V-2 took it to the edge of the upper atmosphere and the border of space; it can be regarded as being the first ‘space’ rocket. Development of rocket technology gained momentum after the Second World War when both the USA and the former Soviet Union embarked on extensive programmes, culminating in the first satellite launch (Sputnik 1) in October 1957 and the first moon landing in July 1969. Artificial satellites of necessity require their own power source. For many satellites this has taken the form of solar panels, whereby electricity is generated by the photovoltaic effect of sunlight on certain substrates, notably silicon and germanium. For satellites in earth orbit this a common method of generating power.