[AR] Re: MSR reactors.
- From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2019 12:25:18 -0400 (EDT)
On Fri, 12 Jul 2019, Anthony Cesaroni wrote:
Is anyone on the list familiar with thorium and mixed fueled, molten
salt reactors? ... Operational temperatures cited range between 700~1000
C depending on the design. Apparently higher temperatures are possible
but have not been tested. Has the MSR design ever been considered for
use with hydrogen as a propulsion system?
Not that I know of. The 1960s work on nuclear engines successfully
demonstrated fuel elements running at 2500K, a temperature that
molten-salt designs are unlikely to ever reach, and there were ideas for
going still hotter. As with any LH2 heat-exchanger rocket, temperature
directly drives Isp.
Nuclear rockets have awful problems with high cost, bulky heavy LH2 tanks,
refrigeration for long-term LH2 storage, and dismal engine T/W, so they
absolutely need really high Isp to compete at all. Halving temperature
means around a 30% Isp loss, which takes you down from ~800s to ~550s,
which is unlikely to be enough of an advantage over LOX/LH2 to be worth
all the other headaches.
Henry
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