Philosophy for nuclear thermal propulsion

The philosophy used for development of nuclear thermal propulsion will determine the cost, schedule and risk associated with the activities. As important is the impression of the decision makers. If the development cost is higher than the product value, it is doubtful that funding will ever be available. On the other hand, if the development supports the economic welfare of the country with a high rate of return, the probability of funding greatly increases. The philosophy is divided into: realism, design, operations and qualification. ‘‘Realism’’ addresses such items as political acceptability, potential customers, robustness‐flexibility, public acceptance, decisions as needed, concurrent engineering, and the possible role of the CIS. ‘‘Design’’ addresses ‘‘minimum requirement,’’ built in safety and reliability redundancy, emphasize on eliminating risk at lowest levels, and the possible inclusion of electric generation. ‘‘Operations’’ addresses sately, environment, operations, design margins and degradation modes. ‘‘Qualification’’ addresses testing needs and test facilities.