same 2000 kWe demand. Relative to the use of the larger 1000 kWe units, this significantly larger number of smaller units has associated material, labour, and energy use penalties for emplacing the units and transmitting the power generated. There is also a logistic penalty, in terms of the number of HLLV launches versus total base energy demand, for the smaller 100 kWe units as shown in Fig. 6. The results show that the logistic burden benefits are significant when the initial installation of SP-100 class nuclear power plants is followed by the larger nuclear plants. The logistic burden benefits can offset the development costs of an additional, larger nuclear unit for lunar basing. Additionally, if the development costs for the larger nuclear unit can be apportioned to other applications, there will be significant savings in national resources for lunar base and other space activities. The larger 1000 kWe nuclear units can be based on NERVA Derivative Reactor (NDR) technology which is adaptable to numerous space power applications (see below). With the use of NDR technology, development costs can be apportioned to other applications, and further cost savings would be achieved by utilizing the existing data base from the successful $1.4 billion NERVA-Rover program. Scaleability is another NDR advantage. As indicated in Ref. [7], NDRs of the same physical size can be used in nuclear power systems with a range of ratings from 1-10 MWt. Therefore, NDRs with ratings greater than 1000 kWe could further reduce the number of HLLV launches shown in Fig. 6 when the base power demand grows beyond 2000 kWe. Recent Developments in NDR Nuclear System Design As part of Phase I of the DOE Multimegawatt Space Reactor Program, Westinghouse developed a NERVA Derivative Reactor (NDR) design based on demonstrated NERVA-Rover technologies and state-of-the-art fuel and materials technologies. Like
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTU5NjU0Mg==