Certain problems in ground developmental testing of start-up modes of second-generation space thermionic nuclear power systems

The paper addresses some problems in ground developmental testing of start-up modes for space-based second-generation nuclear power systems with thermionic converters. It analyzes the feasibility of applying the experience gained in the development of our country’s nuclear power systems Yenisey and Topaz to solution of these problems. It shows that the existing experience in computational and experimental studies of start-up modes may serve as a reliable foundation for developing a developmental testing program. It points out the special importance of mathematical and computational models, which, at the current level of computer technology, can describe a wider range of processes and phenomena then before, and can also be implemented in plant simulators, thus reducing the ground developmental testing time and improving the validity and fidelity of the results.