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August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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Breaking ground on a new approach to construction
The drive to Kairos Power’s reactor demonstration site in Oak Ridge, Tenn., is not only scenic—it’s historic. Nearly 85 years ago, roughly 30,000 construction workers transformed orchards and farmland into a key Manhattan Project site. Depending on your route, you may pass by one of the three gatehouses that were once military checkpoints controlling access to Atomic Energy Commission production facilities.
Alecsei Sorokin
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 72 | Number 3 | December 1979 | Pages 330-346
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE79-A20389
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Chemically reactive nitrogen tetroxide (N2O4 ⇌ 2NO2 ⇌ 2NO + O2) is discussed as a possible working fluid for power-producing thermodynamic cycles. Computation of the thermodynamic properties of the dissociating N2O4 system in liquid and gas phases is based on Soviet sources, since the most extensive research has been carried on at the Institute for Nuclear Energy in Byelorussia, where N2O4 is proposed as a coolant for fast-neutron gas reactors. Kinetics of the chemical reactions are considered by comparison between cycle parameters with equilibrium working fluid in all plant components and computations with frozen second reaction in the turbines. The results of the research, and the pros and cons of the system from the thermodynamic point of view, are discussed in the conclusion.