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OSTP memo guides space nuclear plan
A White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memorandum released on Tuesday guides NASA, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense on their roles in deploying near-term space nuclear power.
This follows a series of NASA announcements last month—driven by the executive order “Ensuring American Space Superiority,” issued by Trump in December—including an ambitious timeline for establishing a moon base, which would rely on fission surface power (FSP) to survive the long lunar night at the moon’s south pole, and plans for a nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) rocket to be launched in 2028.
Rafael Isayev, Natalia Pukhareva, Evgeniy Malinovskiy, Egor Korenevski, Pavel Dzhumaev
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 199 | Number 4 | April 2025 | Pages 531-549
Review Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2024.2383110
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The compatibility of structural materials with lead and lead-bismuth eutectic is a significant challenge in the development of fast neutron reactors with heavy-liquid-metal coolants. Liquid-metal corrosion negatively affects ferritic-martensitic steel EP823-Sh. The mechanism of liquid-metal corrosion of steels corresponds to physicochemical dissolution when the oxygen content in lead is less than the equilibrium value. The selective dissolution of steel components from the surface of the claddings is observed. When the oxygen concentration exceeds the equilibrium value, the corrosion products are the outer oxide layer of magnetite and the chromium spinel of nonstoichiometric composition such as Fe(Fe1-x,Crx)2O4, as well as the development of an internal oxidation zone along the grain boundaries, which also can be observed. The pure-lead heat transfer sublayer between the fuel and the cladding causes the dissolution and deposition of steel components on the inner surface of the cladding. To increase corrosion resistance, it is proposed to modify the surface using plasma and laser processing, as well as by applying protective coatings.