Reactor. The General Atomics reactor is a liquid metal cooled, in-core thermionic reactor which generates power by virtue of the thermionic phenomenon where electrons are ‘boiled’ off from a hot emitter and collected on a cooled collector, generating a voltage potential between the two elements. The reactor, with associated liquid metal piping, is shown in Fig. 25. Details of the thermionic core elements are illustrated in Fig. 26. Energy Storage Device. Energy for the burst power mode is stored in the form of gaseous hydrogen and oxygen which are processed through a number of alkaline fuel cells, generating a DC current and steam. The system schematic for the fuel cells is shown in Fig. 27. The steam is collected in large, expandable bag radiators where the steam is condensed by radiation to space. The expandable radiators are rolled up during the condensation process and the liquid water is collected in order to reinitiate the cycle. The liquid water is electrolyzed with power from the thermionic reactor and returned to the gaseous hydrogen and oxygen tanks as feed stock for the fuel cells.
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