Mark Megahan
Nuclear reactor technology is finally being scaled down into a range suitable for home use. Powering a whole city with safe and reliable fission has been common for decades but so far, the smallest portable still puts out a couple hundred megawatts. Around 10 Kilowatts is more than enough for an average family and all their gear.
The Kilopower reactor
Now that you have your ultimate off-grid habitat on the drawing board, it’s time to think about a power supply. These nifty kilopower reactor models would be great to have now, but there are still a few bugs to work out.
Since they’re an absolute necessity for Lunar or Mars missions, you can expect the snags to be polished off soon. After they get some units in production, the price will plummet, making them perfect for terrestrial use, too.
The Kilopower reactor concept has been on the verge of final success for nearly four years now. Gradually, the wrinkles are getting ironed out, one-by-one. For, say, a mission to Mars. Solar, wind, and hydro-power options aren’t available or anywhere near sufficient.
That makes nuclear a necessity. NASA and the DOE teamed up with a challenge to create a 1-10k producing unit which can fit in a standard shipping container.
At the core of the design is “Stirling” motor technology. NASA’s hoping for a system which, when combined can produce a total output of 40 kilowatts. That’s enough to power 30 average households for ten years here on Earth and just enough for a small moon colony.
The reactor will power all the rovers and experiments but also be used for life support and extraction of water.
Ready by 2030’s
Everyone is hoping to get the kilopower reactor ready to launch by 2030 for a test on the Moon. According to Jim Reuter, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, “Plentiful energy will be key to future space exploration.”
The spinoff effect will help homesteaders here on Earth, too. “I expect fission surface power systems to greatly benefit our plans for power architectures for the Moon and Mars and even drive innovation for uses here on Earth.”
With one single kilowatt of power, you can run a toaster. A 2000 square foot home can run efficiently on 8-10 kilowatts.
An entire Mars habitat can fully function on 40-50kW of power. Obviously, to keep shipping costs down, that demand shouldn’t be split into more than 4 independent reactor units.
The nearly finished design features a uranium-235 nuclear fission core, “about the size of a paper towel roll.” The whole unit stands between five and six feet, including the umbrella-like radiant heat sink.
Heat from the reactor core is pumped through sodium “heat pipes” which convert thermal energy to kinetic via “a high-efficiency Stirling engine, which drives a mechanical flywheel and piston via the repeated expansion of gases.” That gets hooked to a standard alternator to produce usable electricity.
