Co-60 breeding reactor tandem with thermionic avalanche cell
AssigneeUnited States of America as represented by the Administrator of NASA
InventorsSang H. Choi, Ronald J. Litchford
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Abstract
Systems, methods, and devices of the various embodiments enable a Nuclear Thermionic Avalanche Cell (NTAC) to capture gamma ray photons emitted during a fission process, such as a fission process of Uranium-235 (U-235), and to breed and use a new gamma ray source to increase an overall emission flux of gamma ray photons. Various embodiments combine a fission process with the production of Co-60, thereby boosting the output flux of gamma ray photons for use by a NTAC in generating power. Various embodiments combine a fission process with the production of Co-60, a NTAC generating avalanche cell power, and a thermoelectric generator generating thermoelectric power.
Claims17
A fission process reactor unit, comprising:
- a radioactive element;
- a cobalt 59 (Co-59) layer;
- a Nuclear Thermionic Avalanche Cell (NTAC);
- and
- a thermoelectric generator,
- wherein:
- a fission process of the radioactive element releases neutrons to the Co-59 layer to breed cobalt 60 (Co-60);
- the NTAC receives gamma rays from the fission process, a by-product of the fission process, and the bred Co-60 to generate direct current (DC) power;
- and
- the thermoelectric generator receives thermal energy from the radioactive element and the NTAC to generate DC power.
A reactor system, comprising:
- a containment vessel;
- and
- one or more fission process reactor units supported within the containment vessel, each of the one or more fission process reactor units comprising:
- a radioactive element;
- a cobalt 59 (Co-59) layer;
- a Nuclear Thermionic Avalanche Cell (NTAC);
- and
- a thermoelectric generator,
- wherein:
- a fission process of the radioactive element releases neutrons to the Co-59 layer to breed cobalt 60 (Co-60);
- the NTAC receives gamma rays from the fission process, a by-product of the fission process, and the bred Co-60 to generate direct current (DC) power;
- and
- the thermoelectric generator receives thermal energy from the radioactive element and the NTAC to generate DC power.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.