A Concept of Nuclear Reactor Power for Unmanned Undersea Vehicle

Abstract

High-speed long-range unmanned undersea vehicles can expand various new combat modes. However, the power system is one of its bottlenecks. Nuclear power is an effective solution to address this problem. The miniaturization of the nuclear reactor power system is technically difficult. In this study, we simplified the system architecture, optimized the equipment layout scheme, and proposed a conceptual scheme of a nuclear reactor power system with an outer diameter of less than 533 mm, a length of no more than 3 m, a weight of no more than 750 kg, and the ability to output 100 kW of electric power based on the combination of a water-cooled thermal neutron reactor and thermoelectric power generation technology. Therefore, it is expected to enable the nuclear-powered unmanned undersea vehicle to be carried by a universal warship and launched from the 533 mm torpedo tube, increasing the mission flexibility. The cost of the nuclear power system can be significantly reduced and has the potential for mass production by adopting a reactor configuration with low fuel loading and using mature technology as much as possible. After estimating the key parameters of nuclear physics, thermal engineering, fluids, and mechanics, the feasibility of the scheme is preliminarily proved.

Keywords

• unmanned undersea vehicle
• nuclear power
• nuclear reactor