ML-1

This article is about the nuclear reactor. For the launch platform, see Mobile Launcher Platform 3.
Full-scale ML-1 mockup at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho. The actual reactor was tested nearby.

ML-1 was an experimental nuclear reactor built as part of the US Army Nuclear Power Program between 1961 and 1965. It was intended to provide truck-mounted nuclear power that could accompany troops from place to place and provide power to command and communication centers, evacuation hospitals, depots, and radar and weapons systems.[1]: 99 

Unlike the other seven reactors of this program, it did not use a steam turbine, but instead used a nitrogen coolant at 315 pounds per square inch (2,170 kPa) to drive a closed-cycle gas turbine. It was designed to produce 3.3 MWthermal of heat and 400 kW of shaft horsepower with an outlet temperature of 1,200 °F (649 °C).[2]

Though the concept of a nitrogen closed cycle gas turbine was strong, the design failed to live up to expectations, and was abandoned with the closure of ML-1 in 1965 after several major refits and with only a few hundred hours of testing completed in all. Similar concepts have been more recently proposed as part of the PBMR program as derivatives thereof.

A 1964 economic analysis concluded that the overall cost of purchasing and operating the ML-1 for a period of 10 years would be about ten times that of a comparable diesel plant at normal fuel costs.[3]

  1. ^ Suid, Lawrence H. (1990). The Army's Nuclear Power Program: The Evolution of a Support Agency. Contributions in Military Studies, Number 98. ISBN 978-0-313-27226-4.
  2. ^ Wayne, W. D. (1963-06-15). "ML-1 nuclear power plant initial power tests". American Nuclear Society 9th Annual Meeting. Salt Lake City, UT (United States): Aerojet-General Nucleonics. OSTI 4880928.
  3. ^ United States (Feb 19, 1964). "AEC Authorizing Legislation: Hearings Before the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Congress of the United States. 88th Congress, 2nd session". United States. Congress. Joint Committee on Atomic Energy: 414. Retrieved 30 November 2023.