Abstract
The control systems for a nuclear rocket engine will require an automatic technique for changing the reactor from a subcritical, shutdown condition to a sufficiently high power level for the automatic power control system to operate. The startup is achieved by programming the control rods out until the automatic power control system is activated automatically at a preselected reactor power level. The control rod position program provides for high velocities early in the startup and for smoothly decreasing velocities as delayed critical is approached. The control rod program can be adjusted to safely start the reactor in any time within the range of approximately 15 seconds to several minutes. A single range of neutronic instrumentation is used for both the startup and the full-power phase.
The startup technique was successfully tested on Kiwi-B-4D Rover Reactor in May, 1964, at the Nuclear Rocket Development Station, Nevada, U.S.A.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Lt. Col. H. R. Schmidt, “The Nuclear Rocket Engine and Flight Program”, IRE Transaction on Nuclear Science, Volume NS-9, No. 1, January, 1962.
G. K. Hess, Jr., et al., “Control Systems for the Kiwi-A Nuclear Reactors”, IRE Transaction on Nuclear Science, Volume NS-9, No. 1, January, 1962.
J. Henshall and S. Singer, “Kiwi-B-1A Test Facilities and Procedures‟, IRE Transaction on Nuclear Science, Volume NS-9, No. 1, January, 1962.
E. A. Brown, “Logarithmic Power Control in Kiwi-A Reactors”, IRE Transaction on Nuclear Science, Volume NS-9, No. 1, January, 1962.
E. A. Brown, et al., “Control Systems for a Liquid-Hydrogen-Cooled Kiwi-B Reactor”, Proceedings of Nuclear Propulsion Conference, Monterey, TID-7653 (Pt. II), August, 1962.
R. R. Monier and J. E. Perry, Jr., “Nuclear Rocket Engine Control”, Nucleonics, Volume 19, No. 4, April, 1961.
J. McLeod, “Kiwi Ground Test Neutronics Instrumentation”, IRE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Volume NS-9, No. 1, January, 1962.
T. E. Springer, “Delayed Neutron Reduced Groups by Least Squares”, LA-3082, December 19, 1961.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1966 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this paper
Cite this paper
Strait, B.G., Hohmann, G.L. (1966). Automatic Startup for Nuclear Reactor Rocket Engines. In: Aseltine, J.A. (eds) Peaceful Uses of Automation in Outer Space. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6411-3_32
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6411-3_32
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-6203-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-6411-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive