Proceedings of ICAPP '04

Pittsburgh. PA USA, June 13-17,2004

Paper 4275

Sodium Based Heat Pipe Modules for Space Reactor Concepts:

Stainless Steel SAFE400 Core

James J. Martin and Robert S.Reid

Marshall Space Flight Center; National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Huntsville, Alabama, 35812
Tel: (256)544-6054, Fax: (256)544-3396.jim.j.marlin@nnsarzsagov
Tel: (256)544-1523,Fax: (256)544-3396. [email protected]

-
Abstract A heat pipe cooled reactor is one of several candidate reactor cores being considered
for advanced space power and propulsion systems to support firture space exploration
applications. Long life heat pipe modules, with designs verified through a combination of
theoretical analysis and experimental lifetime evaluations, would be necessary to establish the
viability of any of these candidates, including the heat pipe reactor option. A hardware-based
program was initiated to estabiish the infrastructure necessary to build heat pipe modules. This
effort, initiated by Los Alams National Laboratory and referred to as the Safe Affordable Fission
Engine (SAFE) project, set out to fabricate and pegonn non-nuclear testing on a modular heat
pipe reactor prototype that can provide 1 OO-kWtfrom the core to an energy conversion system at
700°C.Prototypic heat pipe hardware was designed,fabricated, filled, closed-out and acceptance
tested.

I. INTRODUCTION AND APPROACH Alkali metal heat pipes have demonstrated reliability
over multi-year operation and tolerance to many times the
Near-term ambitious space exploration would benefit fast neutron fluence of expected core designs6. AUrali metal
from systems that have high specific power with associated heat pipes have been successfully tested aboard the Space
high specific impulse. Nuclear electric propulsion systems Shuttle Endeavor. Results correlated well with existing
have the potential to meet this requirement, offering a long models, indicating that the first flight heat pipe core will
life power rich environment in which to conduct scientific operate as intended'. A large body of data documents the
investigations'. A potential reactor concept for near term excellent compatibility of stainless steels with the
space exploration application of nuclear energy, to both in- vaporizing K and Na at temperatures up to 925°C *.
space and surface power needs, is a compact fast spectrum Since their invention 40 years ago, heat pipes using
heat pipe reactor system, a configuration that couples well fluids such as ammonia and water have found wide use on
to a number of power conversion systems including earth and in space. The original heat pipe embodiment was
Brayton, Stirling, and thermoelectric. The benefits of the intended expressly for space nuclear reactor energy
heat pipe reactor choice are its simple modular design that conversion9. A heat pipe cooled reactor was the initial SP-
eases assembly, built in redundancy that minimizes single 100 baseline design". Alkali metal heat pipes still occupy a
point failures, and a layout that is highly testable in a non- niche associated mostly with space nuclear power systems.
nuclear e n ~ i r o n m e n t ~Non-nuclear
~'~. evaluation allows for Despite the stunted US space reactor effort, R&D projects
fast paced, cost effective development, identifying thermal during the 1970s and 1980s sponsored by the DOE,NASA,
hydraulic issues early on when changes can be easily and the US Air Force brought alkali metal heat pipes to a
implemented. This approach increases the probability of level of understanding and technical maturity unusual for
success should a costly full power ground nuclear space reactor components". If heat pipe container and
demonstration be required'. Success of an early hardware worlung fluid impurities can be kept low, care is taken in
test program will foster the continued development of fabrication, and isolation is achieved from external
infrastructure necessary to field larger, more capable contamination sources, long operating life is possible.
systems in the future.
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These conditions can be met with idusrty standard Solubility of the wall in the working fluid increases in
practice (ASTM C997-83, C105 1-85, and G68-80)'2'3*14. the presence of impurities when ternary compounds form
-4ssa i~itia!step the ?.kii!iafl S p c e Flight Center with hie working fluid and containmenr. 'hpurity corrosion
Early Flight Fission - Test Facility (EFF-TF) team has rate in sodium heat pipes is related to the accumulation of
taken the approach of establishing a hardware-based test elements such as 0, N, and C in the heat pipe evaporator.
program to evaluate potential reactor concepts; the heat Such impurity accumulation makes the corrosion rate
pipe reactor system is one of those under eval~ation'~. somewhat dependent on mass fluence. The radial heat flux
Designed by Los Alamos National Laboratory and referred applied to the evaporator is Qmd = Q l(ndL,),the mass
to as the Safe Affordable Fission Engine (SAFE), this
flux through the evaporator is a function of the radial heat
concept has been implemented at multiple power levels.
Work discussed in this paper relates to the lOO-kW, design flux, G = (id l h , , and the mass fluence through the
that is referred to as the SAFE-100. The SAFE-100 makes evaporator is M" = Gz.
use of 61-stainless steel sodium heat pipe modules and has Mass diffusion transfers impurities from the heat pipe
a nominal operating temperature of 973 K 1617. To lower structure to the working fluid. The Arrhenius equation
project costs, a reduced version of the SAFE-100, core relates impurity diffusion rates to heat pipe temperature. As
referred to as the SAFE-100a, has been fabricated. This an initial approximation, data can be Arrhenius normalized
configuration is identical to the SAFE-100 with the for heat pipe tests conducted away from the o p a t i n g
exception that only the central 19 heat pipe modules are temperature by:
used. For all tests, fission heating is simulated with
specially designed electrical resistance heaters and
electrical power control systems. Infrastructure has been
established to fabricate, fill, process, and evaluate the heat
pipe modules at a component level. These stainless steel
heat pipes serve as an excellent forerunner to the where k is Boltzmann's constant, To is the operating
fabrication and testing of higher temperature refractory temperature, T is the heat pipe test temperahm and AH is
metal heat pipe modules. the activation energy. Testing on the order of 100°C over
the design temperature greatly accelerates the Arrhenius-
11. OVERVIEW OF HEAT PIPE MODULE governed diffusion rate in the heat pipe evaporator. Mass
LIFETIME ISSUES fluence can be accelerated by applying power along a
shortened heat pipe evaporator length. Corrosion rates in
This section discusses some lifetime issues associated stainless steel sodium material systems has been correlated
with alkali metal material systems. A striking advantage of with the expression *I:
the heat pipe core approach is the numerous temperature
and power configurations offered. For instance, a single
stainless steel heat pipe module can work with K or Na,
allowing high power density compact reactor operating
options from 800 K to 1173 K.
Lifetime issues are well established for alkali metal 2.59.106
systems and are summarized in several textbooks1 w . m.
When a heat pipe working fluid condenses, it is essentially 111. THE SAFE-100 MODULE DESIGN
free of impurities when compared with the adjacent wall.

'.
Nonmetallic impurities such as oxygen and carbon can The SAFE-100 is an intermediate stop along the path
diffuse from the condenser wall into the working fluid. to a lar er refractory metal system such as the SAFE400
These impurities may be carried toward the evaporator design This initial system requires 61 heat pipe modules
where they can concentrate. Impurities can precipitate and fabricated from stainless steel with sodium as the working
clog the wick, form low melting point eutectics with the fluid. This system has been designed with the intention of
container, or form ternary compounds with the container coupling it to a heat exchanger capable of transporting
and working fluid. thermal power to a Brayton power conversion system. For
If any of the elements in the wick or wall is soluble in simplicity, each of the 61 SAFE-100modules is identical in
the working fluid, they can dissolve and move to the geometry and performance. The full power design was set
evaporator end of the pipe. The heat pipe structure must be at 100 kW,, requiring that each module operate at a nominal
insoluble to avoid this condition. Proper material selection power throughput of 1.6 kW,. Based on previous
avoids this problem entirely. In the absence of non-metallic experience with the SAFE-30 projecpH*z, a 30 kW,
impurities, the solubility of stainless steel in K or Na is device, the new design makes use of symmetric evaporates
<<lo ppm (by weight).

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Paper 4275

assembly, reducing stresses on the evaporator section that Figure 2. SAFE-100 sodium heat pipe design
can result in module warping. The new layout, illustrated in margins: axial heat transfer rate versus
Figiirc 1 has a iri-lobe arrangement with the fuei tubes set at temperature at the evaporator exit.
120’ intervals about the evaporator perimeter. Analyses
were performed to assess operating limits, setting the final The internal capillary channel is formed by a crescent
module geometry. annular wick composed of 7 layers of 400-mesh 304L
stainless steel screen with a wire diameter 0.03 mm. Bubble
point tests of the assembled wick structure (using ethyl
alcohol and helium pressurant) measured a maximum wick
pore diameter of 16 pm. The final geometry leaves a 0.6-
mm annular-liquid flow gap between the module inner wall
and outer edge of the wickz6.

IV. FABRICATION OF THE SAFE-100 MODULE

The SAFE-100 modules are comprised of the

following components: three fuel tube sections, central heat
pipe tube, six tricusps, heat pipe end cap, heat pipe fill stem
and internal wick/plug. Figure 3 illustrates the relative
position of each of these components. The central heat pipe
module (three fuel tubes, central heat pipe tube and six
mcuspsj is assembled by Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP)
which diffusion bonds the stainless steel components
together at ll0OoC and 1050 bar. The module outer end
cap is electron beam welded in place and the sintered wick
The result is a module capable of satisfying the design with tapered evaporator plug are placed inside. As a final
heat transfer requirement (operating at approximately 20% assembly step during fabrication the fill stem is electron
of its design limit) at a nominal operating temperature of beam welded to the end of the condenser section. At each
973% as shown in Figure 2. The SAFE-100 heat pipe tube step of the process, strict cleanliness is maintained to avoid
and three fuel tubes are constructed of stainless steel 321 contamination. Several vacuum firings are performed on
with an outside diameter of 1.59 cm and wall thickness of components during assembly at temperatures of 900 “C
0.89 mm. The evaporator and condenser are of nearly equal with vacuum levels of loe5Torr. A gaseous helium leak
lengths, with dimensions of 58.4 cm and 55.9 cm, check is performed on the module before a final vacuum
respectively. firing. The vacuum firing is followed by a back fill of dry
pure argon before sealing and shipping the completed
module to the MSFC2’.

V. PROCESSING SAFE-100 MODULES

The capability to handle and dispense alkali metals has

been established at the MSFC EFF-TFB. This procedure
was applied to process SAFE-100 modules. Five steps are
required to complete a heat pipe module: 1) filling the
module with a known amount of sodium, 2) vacuum
conditioning to remove any residual glove box argon, 3)
-- -swLnuf leak checking, 4) closing out of the fill stem, and 5) high
temperature wetting-in of the completed module.
Fabricated modules are received in a condition ready for
filling; they have been completely assembled, leak checked,
vacuum fired at 900 OC, then back filled with dry argon for
transport from the fabrication contractor (Advanced
700 800 900 1000 1100 1200
Methods and Materials) to the MSFC laboratory. Module
TEMPERATURE AT EVAPORATOR EXIT, K
filling is performed in the fill machine, a glove box shown
in Figure 4, using a known volume technique to meter a
quantity of sodium (35 A 2 grams). A fill is executed with a

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Paper 4275

two-stage process (Figure 5). First, the known volume is transfer (sufficiently above the sodium melting point to

5
filled from the bulk sodium storage, followed by a transfer minimize the chance of premature freezing).
from the known voiume to a heat plpe module. W-eights are
taken at both stages to verify sufficient material has been Sodium Vent
transferred. Inlet lsdiition

Known
Sodium
Fitter Vdwne

Isolation

Transfer
Known Irobtlw,
Vdume
Module
Fill RU Stem

Vacuum
Isolation Modok

Setup For Known Setup For Known

Volume Fill Volume Transfer
Figure 3. Exploded view of heat pipe module.
Figure 5. FilVtransfer hardware setups.

To initiate the transfer, a pressure of 760 Torr (high

purity Argon) is placed on the sodium feed system and the
isolation valve is opened. Temperatures on the module are
monitored, a rapid jump in the lcnown volume tenrperature
indicates a successful fill (Figure 6) . The heaters are turned
off and the volume allowed is to cool. During cool down,
the temperature plateau during sodium phase transition is a
second indicator that the transfer was successful. The
known volume is removed and weighed to determine the
quantity of sodium transferred. The volume is then placed
on an evacuated Torr range) heat pipe module in
preparation for transfer. The vacuum provides the pressure
differential required to transfer the molten sodium. The
volume and module fill stem are fitted with heaters and
Figure 4. Alkali metal fill machine system.
temperatures are increased to approximately 170°C on the
known volume and 12OOC on the heat pipe module fill stem.
The fill process is begun by connecting the known
The isolation valve is then opened and sodium flows into
volume to the fill machine sodium system isolation valve/
the heat pipe module; during the transfer, the temperature
14-micron filter assembly (inside the glove box). The
on the module fill stem jumps rapidly while the molten
volume is then evacuated into the lo-’ Torr range and all
sodium flows past, as shown in Figure 7. The temperature
sodium feed lines are heated to the 15OOC to 160°C range.
of the known volume typically climbs higher during the
The temperature is maintained that this level to minimize
heater “on” cycle after transfer since its thermal mass has
the solubility of oxygen in the sodium; the initial
been significantly reduced. An additional indication that the
concentration in the bulk sodium stock is estimated at 10
transfer was successful is the lack of a sodium phase
parts per million (it was distillation purified from original
transition temperature plateau during the moduleknown
DuPont Niapure stock at Los Alamos National Laboratory).
volume cool down.
All components are equipped with heaters and the known
volume is maintained at approximately 120°C during the

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Paper 4275

( l o 8to 10-~TOIT range) vacuum turbo pump system so that

it can be heat processed to remove trapped gas. Heaters are
piaced dong the h i i module length and thermocouples are
located on the evaporator and condenser sections. The
module is evacuated into the low lo4 TOIT range, leak
20 checked again, and then heated to the 200°C to 25VC
range. This heating cycle continues for approximately 1
hour or until the pressure falls back into the lo4 Ton range.
00 Heating allows the sodium to flow freely and to release any
argon trapped during the module fill process. The general
80 trend is an initial pressure rise (during heat up) followed by
a series of very short-term pressure spikes and then a slow
steady drop. Tapping the module as the pressure drops
60
produces small pressure spikes that decrease in amplitude
own Voclrnn Worn
and duration while the heating cycle continues. This
40 behavior is observed in Figure 8.
0 500 1000 1500 2000
Time (seconds) 300 1
Figure 6. Sodium transfer from fill machine to
known volume: temperature versus time traces.
~ ~

-Known Volume Top

- Known Volume Bottom
h
200
-Module Fill Stem
s2
f
g 150
8
E
8
100

40 \
50

04
d
0 low
Module Heating h t e r v ~ l

2000 WW 40.0
11mo
5Wn

0 500 1000 1500 TLne (seconds)

Time (seconds) Figure 8. Vacuum conditioning of a filled sodium

Figure 7. Sodium transfer from known volume to heat pipe module.
heat pipe module: temperature versus time
The module is cooled, isolated from the vacuum
traces.
system, and its fill stem is pressed using 2.5-cm wide steel
The filled module is evacuated to the mid lo' Torr dies at a load of approximately 20 metric tons. The module
range and leak checked using a Varian Model 979 leak is then placed back into the glove box and the flat-pressed
detector that detects a baseline leak rate of 0 . 2 ~ 1 0 " fill stem area is cut offlwelded using a tungsten inert gas
standard cc/sec of helium. Helium is then sprayed around (TIG) welder. Performing a fusion cutoff with the TIG
the fill stem connection fittings and module welds; any welder maintains an excellent molten stainless steel seal
increase above the background rate is readily picked up and across the stem, preventing glove box argon from getting
displayed. Fittings are tightened as required to make the into the heat pipe module. The welded stem is visually
unit leak tight. At this point, the module is approved for inspected and then sealed off with a 7.5-cm long cap that
removal from the glove box for further processing. The contains the dry glove box argon, providing both protection
next step requires hooking the module up to an ultra high and a secondary seal (Figure 9). The capped module is then

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Paper 4275

placed in a vacuum furnace operating in the low Torr

range for a 48-hour “wet-in” cycle at approximately 750“.
‘Pa:-
11115 “wet-in” process aiiows the sodium to fully wet the

interior of the module (walls and capillary mesh structure).

The temperature is ramped up over a two-hour period, held
constant for the 48-hour duration, and then cooled using an
ambient furnace cooling cycle. The “wet-in” cycle
improves both startup characteristics and performance at
high heat flux and minimizes the potential for evaporator or
condenser dry out. Figure 11. Sodium stainless steel heat pipe
module operating in air near 700°C.

Figure 12 illustrates the typical startup transient for a

particular module at a condenser temperature of 670OC.
The condenser section thermocouple traces show thaw
occurring when the evaporator reaches a temperature of
approximately 500°C (corresponding to a vapor pressure of
9 Torr). The sodium vapor pressure at the final steady-state
temperature is 185 Torr; to reach one atmosphere pressure
VI. ACCEPTANCE TESTING THE SAFE- 100 (760 Torr) an evaporator temperature of 79OOC is required.
MODULE The module condenser temperature varies by
approximateiy 203C from the evaporator exit to the end of
The finished modules undergo final acceptance testing the condenser (Figure 13). This temperature difference is
prior to integration into the SAFE-l00a system. This reduced as evaporator temperature (vapor pressure) is
involves operating the module at a steady state condenser increased.
temperature in the 65OoCto 75OOC range (covering nominal A power balance can be assessed for the heat pipe to
SAFE-100a operation). To accomplish this, the module is provide an estimate of the power that is lost to the
equipped with three electric heater elements (measuring environment along the condenser section. This is
approximately 2/P the length of the evaporator section) approximated as the difference in the input power
and fifteen type-K thermocouples that are spot welded to (evaporator heater power) and that lost through the
the module surface (Figure IO). evaporator insulation blanket,
Mner Ekment
*-___- L
16‘Heated Length

TC4 TC6 Tc7 Ti8 Tc9 Tclo Tctl Tc12 T C I I TCI4

I I The loss term can be assessed by solid conduction in
the blanket material,
k a q Aim ( T , n e r - Touter 1
Qloss = (4)
-am &
FUQlTubPriK31
*rmocw+ aarimmn
at the Central Heater Locabon
lthickness

For the module test conditions the resulting condenser

TCl x3
m.d

Figure 10. Module instrumentation layout. power QCod was found to be 1.25 kW (1.58 kW input
power Qmap- 0.33 kW QbJ. This assessment can be
Three thermocouples are located on the heater tubes, verified by inspecting the heat transfer of the condenser
three on the evaporator section and nine on the condenser. section to the environment, that includes heat transfer by
The modules are operated in air with an approximate 1- both radiation and convectionz9.This can be written as:
hour startup leading into the 6-hour steady state hold at
temperature. To limit the module’s evaporator heat loss, the
evaporator section is wrapped in an insulation blanket with
a thickness of approximately 10 cm. The condenser is
exposed to allow natural convection to remove the input
power (Figure 11). Qconv = 1 .42dLc3I4(T, - T, ),I4. (7)

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Paper4275

For the module conditions being evaluated. the power configuration. Throughout all heat pipe-proctssing
dissipated from the condenser section Q d was found to be operations, close attention was paid to the numbcr of steps
1.24 kR7, which compares weii to the evaporator that were taken and a detailed set of procedures was
assessment of 1.25 kW. The completed heat pipe units that developed to document the process. This informarion
pass acceptance testing are incorporated into the SAFE- serves as a working guide should a full complement of
lOOa hardware setup. This configuration is a full-up system modules be required.
evaluation in which all modules shall be operated together
with an integrated heat exchanger to actively remove heat ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
from the condenser section.
The authors wish to acknowledge the substantial
i TClfC)
contributions to the design, fabrication, assembly of
’‘-
- TC2(C)
TCYC)
TCqC)
hardware, and development of process/procedures for this
project by Applied Materials and Methods, Los A l m s
, TCYCJ National Laboratory, and the NASA Marshall Space night
TCWI Center. NASA’s Project Prometheus, the Nuclear System
- TC7[C)
I - TCWC) Program, supported the work described within this paper as
- TCgC) part of the program’s technology development and
1- TC1qq
- TCll(C) evaluation activities. Any opinions expressed are those of
’ TClaC) the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of
TClYC)
- TClqC) Project Prometheus.
TCl5(C)
- P a a

NOMENCLATURE
Figure 12. Sodium heat pipe module startup: = insulation surface area (mz)
Am
temperature profile versus time. d = condenser diameter (m)
ls00 G = mass flux (kg/m2-s)
hh = latent heat of vaporization (Jkg)
kaw = insulation thermal conductivity (W/m-K)
1-, = insulation thickness (m)
LC = condenser length (m)
Le = evaporator length (m)
M I = mass fluence (kg/m2)
TC111C)
Qcmv = convective loss (W)
TClZiC) Qcod = condenser power (W)
- TClYC) QNW = evaporator power (W)
Qbss = parasihc losses from evaporator (W)
0 Qrd = radiation loss (W)
aooo lswo
0 4000 1 m
nmo (seconda)
20000 24000
&ad, 4 = radial heat flux (W/mz)
Figure 13. Sodium heat pipe module temperature Ti? = ambient temperature (K)
profile during steady state operation. TC = condenser temperature (K)
TWr = Insulation inner temperature (K)
VII. SUMMARY Tower = Insulation outer temperature (K)
0 = Stefan-Boltzmann constant (W/mz-K‘)
To begin the verification process, a hardware program E = total hemispherical emittance (-)
was initiated to investigate fabrication and operation of a
= time(s)
number of sodium-filled stainless steel heat pipes with
geometry prototypic of a heat pipe reactor system. Thirty-
five modules have been constructed; 19 modules have been
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7
 Proceedhgs of ICAPP '04
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paper4275

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