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Ultra Safe Nuclear Technologies (USNC-Tech) - a subsidiary of Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) - has developed a design concept as part of NASA-funded research into nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) systems for potential use in deep space travel. The concept uses a specialised variation of USNC's proprietary fully ceramic microencapsulated, tristructural isotropic fuel, developed for use in power reactors.
- Source: World Nuclear News
- Date: Saturday, 24 October 2020
- Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/USNC-Tech-develops-deep-space-propulsion-system
The design was produced as part of a NASA-funded study. GA-EMS said its design exceeded the key performance parameters requested by NASA.
The reactor concept incorporates advancements in modern nuclear materials and manufacturing methods with experience from GA-EMS’s involvement on NASA Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Project Rover in the 1960s. Project Rover was one of the first programmes to demonstrate the feasibility of space-based nuclear thermal propulsion.
GA fabricated approximately six tonnes of the nuclear fuel kernels for the project. In 1965, the company was also directly involved in nuclear fuel testing and characterisation for the SNAP-10A reactor, the only US nuclear power reactor launched into space, which powered the satellite for 43 days. The fuel used for that reactor is the same fuel that has been used since the 1950s in General Atomics Triga reactors.
- Source: Nucnet
- Date: Wednesday, 16 September 2020
- Original article: nucnet.org/news/general-atomics-submits-nuclear-reactor-concept-for-missions-to-mars-9-2-2020