Burnable-Poison-Operated Reactor Using Gadolinium Loaded Alloy

The problem to be resolved in this work was the use of radial control drums as the sole active reactivity control system for nuclear thermal propulsion, which results in significant rocket performance changes during full-power operation. This can result in large inefficiencies in propellant usage, inaccurate estimations in Isp and thrust, and can be a dangerous operation requiring continuous active control of the reactor given the unstable nature of current nuclear thermal rocket reactor designs.