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DOE selects first companies for nuclear launch pad
The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy and the National Reactor Innovation Center have announced their first selections for the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad: three companies developing microreactors and one developing fuel supply.
The four companies—Deployable Energy, General Matter, NuCube Energy, and Radiant Industries—were selected from the initial pool of Reactor Pilot Program and Fuel Line Pilot Program applicants, the two precursor programs to the launch pad.
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.