It has also been noted that damaging loose parts can cause a significant increase in personnel radiation exposure through the distribution of activated debris in the reactor coolant system and worker exposure during damage repair. Our research is to develop methods and guidelines that can be used to evaluate the impact damage associated with impacting loose parts. Our approach is to combine metal impact theory with experimental measurements to determine the rate of damage as a function of loose part parameters, to determine the range of loose parts and signals that represent damage threats, and to develop methods for predicting the rates with which damage develops. This project is a collaborative effort between myself and Dr. Charles Mayo. Energy is transferred to one end of the heat pipe resulting in the evaporation of the working fluid.
Heat is expelled by condensation of the working fluid at the far end of the heat pipe.
The condensate is transported back to the evaporating end through the capillary action of an embedded wick structure. The lack of moving parts and ability to operate under zero gravity conditions, make heat pipes attractive to designers of space satellites. As a result, many recent designs of space based nuclear reactors depend on heat pipe arrays as the primary heat rejection system. The high operating temperatures involved in these designs usually require liquid metals as the working fluid, with liquid lithium a common choice. As the satellite will presumably be launched in a cold state, initial heat pipe operation will begin with the coolant frozen.