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Proving DRACO will deliver
The United States is now closer than it has been in over five decades to launching the first nuclear thermal rocket into space, thanks to DRACO—the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Orbit.
Lester M. Waganer, V. Dennis Lee, Mohamed A. Abdou, Alice Y. Ying, Thanh Hua, Dai-Kai Sze, Mohamad A. Dagher
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 30 | Number 3 | December 1996 | Pages 618-622
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/FST96-A11963007
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper summarizes the current status of the Demo blanket test systems and how the ITER reactor design and operations are being accommodated. The US blanket program is planning to develop a liquid metal breeder and a solid breeder blanket for testing and evaluation. The test blanket modules will have prototypical components, materials, and coolants representative of power reactor systems. The modules are to be located in the ITER horizontal test ports and installed/removed with special remote handling equipment. Adjacent ITER blanket neutronic and temperature conditions suggest the use of an isolation frame surrounding the test blanket modules or submodules. This frame will also provide additional shielding to protect the adjacent vacuum vessel. The frame and blanket module are attached to the surrounding backplate to transfer static and dynamic loads. All coolants and tritium-bearing fluids will be routed out of the midplane port to special heat exchangers and tritium separation systems. Special remote handling equipment is being designed to install and extract the test blanket modules. Dedicated transporters will be used to move the blanket and shielding modules to dedicated hot cells. Special facility areas will be provided immediately outside the port areas for the heat exchangers, pumps, and tritium-separation systems.