The Heterogeneous Gas Core Reactor (HGCR) departs significantly from most other gas core reactor concepts in that the majority of the system moderation occurs within the core rather than in an external reflector. This leads to significant advantages over other gas core reactor concepts operating at comparable gas temperatures and neutron flux levels. Particularly important for space nuclear power systems is the improved neutron economy which leads to very compact, high power reactors. Calculations show that cylindrical HGCR's less than one meter in diameter by one meter in height can yield power densities of 1000 w/cc and power levels of hundreds of MWt for reactor specific powers of a few hundred kWt/kg.

Date Published: 6 April 1988
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 0871, Space Structures, Power, and Power Conditioning, (6 April 1988); doi: 10.1117/12.943625

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 0871:
Space Structures, Power, and Power Conditioning
Raymond F. Askew, Editor(s)