All values are conceptual-study order-of-magnitude estimates intended to anchor discussion. They are not derived from a Preliminary Safety Analysis Report and should not be cited as design commitments.
Scrub the four primary design knobs. Derived thermal, fuel, and commercial values recalculate live from first-order correlations (not a safety-graded model).
No — this site is a conceptual design study. It is not a Preliminary Safety Analysis Report or a design certification. The specifications are order-of-magnitude estimates intended to anchor investor, regulator, and partner discussions. A real license application would require years of engineering, testing, and NRC review.
k-eff is the most fundamental reactor physics variable: it tells you whether the chain reaction is steady, growing, or shrinking. Power output is a downstream consequence of k-eff, fuel loading, and cooling. Showing k-eff first keeps the design language grounded in physics.
Higher burn-up means each fuel cassette produces more energy before it must be replaced. That lowers fuel cost per megawatt-hour and reduces the number of transport/swaps over a 60-year plant life. It also influences waste composition and disposal planning.
Heat pipes operate entirely by passive phase change and capillary return. If the core heats up, the vapor space pressure rises and natural convection increases; if it cools, boiling slows. There are no pumps to fail, no large primary coolant loops, and no loss-of-coolant accident pathway in the sealed cassette.
HALEU enrichment up to 19.75% allows a much smaller core inventory and longer cycle lengths than 3–5% LEU. For a microreactor, that translates to a smaller vessel, lower transport mass, and a sealed cassette that can run for years without refueling. It remains below the 20% threshold that defines high-enriched uranium in non-proliferation regimes.
Yes, with caveats. The interactive configurator lets you stress-test sensitivities across plausible ranges, but every quoted number should be labeled as a conceptual-study estimate. Use ranges, not single points, and be ready to explain the engineering judgment behind them.
MWth is thermal power from the core; MWe is the net electrical power delivered after the power-conversion cycle and parasitic loads. The ratio MWe/MWth is the plant efficiency. For TidalCore-5, a sCO₂ Brayton cycle at ~850 °C outlet yields roughly 33% net electric efficiency.