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NS Savannah soon open to the public
The world’s first nuclear-powered merchant ship, the NS Savannah, will have a public site visit in Baltimore, Md., on Saturday, February 21.
To register for the event and find up-to-date details on the event’s address, time, and more, click here.
Christopher J. Steffen, Jr., Joshua E. Freeh, Diane L. Linne, Eric W. Faykus, Christopher A. Gallo, Robert D. Green
Nuclear Technology | Volume 166 | Number 3 | June 2009 | Pages 240-251
Technical Paper | 2007 Space Nuclear Conference / Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT09-A8838
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A method for estimating the mass and fission surface power requirements of a lunar oxygen production facility is introduced. The individual modeling components involve the chemical processing and cryogenic storage subsystems needed to process a beneficiated regolith stream into liquid oxygen via ilmenite reduction. The power can be supplied from one of six different fission reactor-converter systems. A baseline system analysis, capable of producing 15 tonnes/yr of oxygen, is presented. The influence of reactor-converter choice was seen to have a small but measurable impact on the system configuration and performance. Finally, the mission concept of operations can have a substantial impact upon individual component size and power requirements.