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2018•Unpublished venueOpen access

White Paper - Comparison of LEU and HEU Fuel for the Kilopower Reactor

Patrick McClure, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), David Poston, Marc Gibson, Lee S. Mason, Steve Oleson

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Abstract

This white paper presents a comparison of Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) versus Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) as fuel for the Kilopower space reactor. It draws upon a previously published white paper 1 by the LANL authors, which was written in order to explore synergistic programmatic objectives with the current NASA Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) program. In that white paper no recommendations or conclusions were drawn on the appropriate cho ice of fuel for Kilopower. However, recent news articles, congressional remarks and conference papers have suggested the use of HEU for Kilopower may need to be reconsidered. This white paper explores in more detail the pros and cons of both fuel choices and presents a conclusion on why the use of HEU is the preferred choice as fuel for Kilopower.

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What this paper is about

This white paper presents a comparison of Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) versus Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) as fuel for the Kilopower space reactor. It draws upon a previously published white paper 1 by the LANL authors, which was written in order to explore synergistic programmatic objectives with the current NASA Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) program. In that white paper no recommendations or conclusions were drawn on the appropriate cho ice of fuel for Kilopower. However, recent news articles, congressional remarks and conference papers have suggested the use of HEU for Kilopower may need to be reconsidered. This white paper explores in more detail the pros and cons of both fuel choices and presents a conclusion on why the use of HEU is the preferred choice as fuel for Kilopower.

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Available abstract

This white paper presents a comparison of Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) versus Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) as fuel for the Kilopower space reactor. It draws upon a previously published white paper 1 by the LANL authors, which was written in order to explore synergistic programmatic objectives with the current NASA Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) program. In that white paper no recommendations or conclusions were drawn on the appropriate cho ice of fuel for Kilopower. However, recent news articles, congressional remarks and conference papers have suggested the use of HEU for Kilopower may need to be reconsidered. This white paper explores in more detail the pros and cons of both fuel choices and presents a conclusion on why the use of HEU is the preferred choice as fuel for Kilopower.

Key concepts: Enriched uranium, White paper, Uranium, White (mutation), Nuclear engineering, Environmental science, Engineering, Chemistry

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