Former SpaceX engineer and Radiant CEO Doug Bernauer told us 'execution is everything.'

  • 📰 IntEngineering
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 95 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 41%
  • Publisher: 63%

United States Headlines News

United States Latest News,United States Headlines

Former SpaceX engineer and Radiant CEO Doug Bernauer told us 'execution is everything.'

Could you tell us about potential prototype trials for Radiant's microreactors? Is there an estimated date?

And my influences are I was at SpaceX for 12 years. So I have a large number of different influences from the projects I worked on and the people I worked for within that organization. I treat it like my alma mater, right? If someone says where did you go to school, I'll jokingly say SpaceX. That's where I actually learned right? So why not say that?

Then, at the end of the year, we aim to have a helium compressor, which is really the heart of the system. It's the pump that drives the helium into the reactor and then extracts it, brings it back out, and then transfers it to the other equipment. It's a very cool machine. The pump is driven by a shaft that's floating on two magnetic bearings. It outputs 75 kilowatts of power and goes over 10,000 rpm.We are also working towards building a helium loop test.

So the NRC already has an amazing safety record, but you could beat that by using live fleet monitoring that tells your team of nuclear engineers exactly where they need to look. And that information could also be passed on to regulators.A traditional reactor uses water for coolant and that water becomes radioactive. We're using helium, which is extremely safe compared to water because it does the same thing without becoming radioactive.

That's maybe why you mentioned before that five years sounds like a short time span when it comes to microreactors. But it's not really, it can be done much faster. How fast did we make Chicago Pile-1, for example, the world's first [artificial] nuclear reactor? It was less than a year. Blue Origin's been around for 22 years, and it was only about five years ago it started flying. So that's the usual slow type of timeline we think about.

"I think nuclear technology is required to... make a real vibrant frontier for civilization in space"

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 287. in US

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

OneWeb eyes merger with Eutelsat amid SpaceX Starlink expansionIt's not the first time OneWeb has pivoted to changing conditions.
Source: SPACEdotcom - 🏆 92. / 67 Read more »

Starlink service endangered by proposed 5G plan, SpaceX says'There is no service that anybody would use where you're getting blocked, you're getting outages, 80% of the time.' I knew it. Obsolete before they even finished launching them. Now the night sky is forever tainted with 3000 useless pieces of space trash. Tough tits Elon, that’s not a good enough reason to let you hang on. Do you want to make money from space with internet or make shit loads of your cars of want to figure out system for both. Huh. Talking great step. Leads to communication. Plans proposals and an end vision that will work. Huh
Source: SPACEdotcom - 🏆 92. / 67 Read more »

Investigation expanding against former Sask. care aid, families sayBrent Gabona was not present in Rosthern court on Wednesday when a court worker confirmed that he has applied for court\u002Dappointed counsel.
Source: TheStarPhoenix - 🏆 253. / 63 Read more »

Former Alabama coach Gene Stallings suffers third strokeFormer Alabama football coach Gene Stallings has 'a little setback.'
Source: aldotcom - 🏆 82. / 68 Read more »

Art Modell, controversial former Browns owner, a finalist for Pro Football HallThe coach/contributor committee will meet Aug. 23 and select one person for consideration in the Class of 2023.
Source: cleveland19news - 🏆 70. / 68 Read more »

Two teens charged with setting massive fire at former Pheasant Run Resort in St. CharlesTwo teenagers have been charged with setting a massive fire in May that destroyed large sections of the former Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles.
Source: ChicagoBreaking - 🏆 521. / 51 Read more »