Composite Vessel-Shield Technology for Transportable Microreactor Systems

A laminated sandwich composite designed to consolidate reactor vessel and radiation shielding functions into a single, weight-optimized structural system for mobile nuclear power applications.

Overview

Practical deployment of transportable micro-reactors asystems depends on solving a fundamental logistics problem: conventional reactor designs treat the pressure vessel and radiation shield as separate systems, each carrying independent structural and weight penalties. For many mobile configurations, the combined mass of these two subsystems exceeds what transport by road, rail, or air can accommodate. This invention proposes a laminated sandwich composite that consolidates both functions into a single integrated structure. The sandwich composites are well established in aerospace applications; the contribution here is its adaptation to nuclear service using reactor-grade materials made possible using advanced manufacturing methods. If demonstrated at scale, this approach may meaningfully expand the viable design space for mobile nuclear systems currently constrained by weight.

Industry Need

Current practice requires the reactor pressure vessel and radiation shield to be designed and fabricated independently, each carrying its own mass burden. For microreactor configurations subject to transport weight limits, this creates a design envelope that is difficult to close. Existing alternatives, including boron-aluminide composite plates and metal foam systems with attenuating fill, address parts of the problem but present limitations related to buckling susceptibility or bonding performance under service conditions.

Differentiation and Advantages

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  Consolidates vessel and shield into one structure, reducing the mass penalty of treating them as separate systems

  
  

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  Additively manufactured multilayered composites resists internal buckling, addressing a known limitation of traditional sandwich composites where carbon ply skins are resin bonded onto metallic honeycomb cores. The skin and sandwiched corrugation layer are literally “welded” together, thus greatly minimizing debonding under the extreme pressures of nuclear reactor environments. Both honeycomb and straight triangular channels (or corrugated) cell structures have been considered for the sandwich core.

  
  

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  Tungsten and boron high temperature ceramic fill within the core layer provide combined gamma-ray and neutron attenuation; thus, integrating the shield into the reactor vessel. The integration greatly reduces the volume and by extention, mass, penalty of enveloping a reactor vessel with a heavy shield.

  
  

Potential Applications

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  Transportable microreactors requiring road, rail, or air shipment.

  
  

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  Remote or off-grid installations where system weight affects site accessibility.

  
  

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  Defense and space deployment requiring mobile nuclear power within transportation constraints.

  
  

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  Domestic supply chains requiring nuclear-grade composite manufacturing capability.

  
  

Availability and Licensing

This technology is available for licensing through Idaho National Laboratory. Interested parties may contact the point of contact listed in this notice to request licensing information. This notice is not a procurement opportunity; Idaho National Laboratory does not procure technologies or accept unsolicited proposals through this process.