GAS COOLED NUCLEAR REACTOR STUDY. Final Report

An investigntion was made of the performance of a gas-cooled reactor, designed to provide a source of high temperature heat to a stream of helium. This reactor, in turn, is used as a source of heat for the air stream in a gas- turbine power plant. The reactor design was predicted primarily on the requirement for transferring a large amount of heat to the helium stream with a pressure drop low enough that it will not represent a major loss of power in the power plant. The mass of uranium e uired far criticality under various circumstances was investigated by multigroup calculations, both on desk calculators and on an IBM-704 machine. The gasturbine power plant perfarmance was studied based on a Studebaker-Packard-designed gas-turbine power plant for the propulsion of destroyer-escort vessels. A small experimental program was carried out to study some effects of helium on graphite and on structural steels. (auth