Coupled Radiation Transport/Thermal Analysis of the Radiation Shield for a Space Nuclear Reactor.

A coupled radiation transport-heat transfer-stress analysis of the radiation shield for an SP-100 reactor was performed using a numerical code developed at the University of New Mexico and Sandia National Laboratory. For a fast reactor operating at 1.66 MW sub th, the energy deposited and resulting temperature distribution was determined for a shield consisting of tungsten and lithium hydride pressed into a stainless steel honeycomb matrix. While temperature feedback was shown to have a minor effect on energy deposition, the shielding configuration was found to have a major influence in meeting thermal requirements of the lithium hydride. It was shown that a shield optimized for radiation protection will fail because of melting. However, with minor modifications in the shield layering and material selection, the thermal integrity of the shield can be preserved. A shield design fo graphite, depleted lithium hydride, tungsten, and natural lithium hydride was shown to satisfy neutron and gamma fluence requirements, maximum temperature limits, and minimize cracking in the LiH portion of the shield.