1. Scope

Keywords

Rationale

Currently there is no draft or accepted standard for design, fabrication, deployment, operation or disposal of in-space reactors in terms of their safe use in-space, meaning that government sponsors or commercial entities have no clear starting point for reliably and predictably demonstrating the safe design of their systems during this phase of flight. Terrestrial standards provide a solid analogue but are written from the perspective of nuclear facilities on Earth, where access for maintenance, weight, in-space natural radiation fields, access to off-site fluid systems, etc. are not at issue. This presents a challenge both to government sponsors (e.g., NASA, DoD), as well as to entities that may need to represent the government’s interests in future commercial activities (e.g., the US’ obligations under the Outer Space Treaty and UN Conventions related to nuclear activities with the potential to affect Earth’s biosphere). At present, there are no known standard development efforts in this area. Historically, only government-sponsored missions have sought to use space reactors, and each program has developed its own practice for safe in-space operation, prior to the program ultimately being terminated (in all cases except the 1965 SNAP10A/SNAPSHOT launch and subsequent operation). Alternative options were considered, including: - Do nothing - Develop an agency-specific standard - Develop a joint agency standard - Encourage an industry-development standard - Develop a voluntary consensus standard NASA/OSMA judged the final of these approaches to be the best fit. The primary benefits of this approach are its inclusivity of stakeholders, its broad use case, and its highly-durable form. The primary detriments are the very time-consuming and resource-intensive nature of such activities and the potential for producing a diluted standard owing to its consensus nature. If a Federal regulator is established in this area down the road, that regulator can opt to endorse the standard (with or without exception) as an acceptable means of meeting regulations in this area.