Optical and thermophysical properties of high-temperature gaseous uranium for nuclear rocket applications

Abstract

Research work is currently under way on the design and analysis of advanced gaseous core nuclear rocket concepts. The potentially very high operating temperatures encountered in the gas core nuclear reactor require detailed computational analysis of the fluid dynamics, heat transfer, and neutronics characteristics of such an assembly. Among the most important parameters needed for analysis are the optical and thermophysical properties of the uranium fuel; a detailed set of values is needed as a function of both temperature and pressure to correctly model the conditions that would exist in the gas core reactor.