47 -- CONSTRUCTION OF THE SAFE-100 HEAT PIPE MODULE AND RELATED HARDWARE

Notice Date

March 14, 2001

Contracting Office

NASA/George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Procurement Office, Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812

ZIP Code

35812

Solicitation Number

8-1-4-TD-D3182

Response Due

March 23, 2001

Point of Contact

Teresa A. Foley, Contracting Officer, Phone (256) 544-0335, Fax (256) 544-2812, Email teresa.foley@msfc.nasa.gov -- George E. Pendley, Contracting Officer, Phone (256) 544-2949, Fax (256) 544-2812, Email george.pendley@msfc.nasa.gov

E-Mail Address

Teresa A. Foley (teresa.foley@msfc.nasa.gov)

Description

THIS NOTICE CONSTITUTES AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO THE COMBINED Synopsis/RFO FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE SAFE-100 HEAT PIPE MODULE AND RELATED HARDWARE SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS NOTICE. Companies shall acknowledge all amendment(s) in their offer. This notice serves as the official amendment to the subject solicitation and a written amendment will not be issued. The purpose of this amendment is to provide additional specifications for this requirement. The contractor shall be highly familiar with all aspects of on-going reactor development work, specifically, must have experience with the SAFE-30 reactor system. The contractor shall also have refractory metal fabrication experience. Specifications: Each heat pipe module shall be delivered in a state ready to be charged with alkali metal. The interior of each heat pipe shall be delivered filled with argon at atmospheric pressure. Each module shall consist of a heat pipe approximately 1.2-m long and 1.59-cm OD and 1.41-cm ID. The heat pipe tube shall be closed with caps on evaporator and the opposing condenser end. A tube to allow charging of the heat pipe with liquid metal shall penetrate the cap on the condenser end of the module. The heat pipe shall be longitudinally diffusion bonded to similar though shorter tubes used to hold simulated fuel tubes at the evaporator end. Each heat pipe shall enclose a porous mesh tube consisting of approximately seven layers of 400 by 400 mesh stainless steel screen. A solid stainless steel plug shall be attached to the evaporator end of the heat pipe wick. This plug shall be attached to the porous mesh tube to maintain capillary continuity of the working fluid at the operating temperature. The completed wick for each module shall be tested to determine maximum pore diameter in the wick and plug joint. The measured maximum pore diameter shall be less than that specified by NASA MSFC. The contractor shall provide NASA MSFC with test results. Each heat pipe shall be longitudinally diffusion bonded to similar though shorter cylinders (expected to be fifty two cm long) used to hold simulated fuel element. The contractor shall develop an appropriate hot isostatic pressing (HIP) technique to bond the heat pipe to the fuel element containment tubes. Before welding all interior heat pipe parts shall be chemically cleaned to remove surface impurities such as residual carbon. Each part contained within the heat pipe shall be heated to 1000C above the maximum heat pipe operating temperature under 10-6 torr vacuum for two hours. The maximum heat pipe operating temperature is 7000C. Once the interior surfaces are fired at 8000C, the end caps shall be electron beam welded to the fill tube and heat pipe tube. Following the welding operation a similar vacuum-heating step shall be performed. Interested organizations may submit their capabilities and qualifications to perform the effort in writing as identified in the synopsis/RFO posted on the NASA Acquisition Internet Service (NAIS) and published in the CBD on March 8, 2001. Documents related to this solicitation will be available over the Internet. These documents are in Microsoft Office 97 format and reside on a World Wide Web (WWW) server, which may be accessed using a WWW browser application. The Internet site, or URL, for the NASA/MSFC Business Opportunities home page is http://nais.msfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/EPS/bizops.cgi?gr=CL&pin=62

Web Link

Click here for the latest information about this notice (http://nais.msfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/EPS/bizops.cgi?gr=D&pin=62#8-1-4-TD-D3182)

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20010316/47SOL003.HTM (D-073 SN50G1B6)