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DARPA wants to bypass the thermal middleman in nuclear power systems

Nuclear power already has an energy density advantage over other sources of thermal electricity generation. But what if nuclear generation didn’t require a steam turbine? What if the radiation from a reactor was less a problem to be managed and more a source of energy? And what if an energy conversion technology could scale to fit nuclear power systems ranging from miniature batteries to the grid? The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is asking these types of questions in a request for information on High Power Direct Energy Conversion from Nuclear Power Systems, released August 1.

Now, DARPA is interested in the possibility of applying direct energy conversion beyond the milliwatt power levels that have been demonstrated, and in solutions optimized for neutron and gamma radiation from a fission or fusion reactor. The RFI suggests that, with systems scaled for large-scale electricity generation and with improved material lifetimes and energy conversion efficiency, “one could create energy-generating ‘smart shields’ for nuclear systems that simultaneously cut down on nuclear waste.” In such shields, “neutron radiation from a fusion or fission reactor could transmute and decay radiovoltaic lattice materials doped or layered with isotopes that are tuned to absorb the reactor’s neutrons, thereafter generating secondary emission alpha or beta particles to further energize radiovoltaics.” “We will learn what our boundary conditions are when respondents tell us what technologies in the field of voltaics are possible, and we’ll use that to see if there is sufficient scientific rationale make a case to present for further DARPA investment,” Dodson said.

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