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What’s the most difficult question you’ve been asked as a maintenance instructor?
Blye Widmar
"Where are the prints?!"
This was the final question in an onslaught of verbal feedback, comments, and critiques I received from my students back in 2019. I had two years of instructor experience and was teaching a class that had been meticulously rehearsed in preparation for an accreditation visit. I knew the training material well and transferred that knowledge effectively enough for all the students to pass the class. As we wrapped up, I asked the students how they felt about my first big system-level class, and they did not hold back.
“Why was the exam from memory when we don’t work from memory in the plant?” “Why didn’t we refer to the vendor documents?” “Why didn’t we practice more on the mock-up?” And so on.
Brian J. Egle, John F. Santarius, Gerald L. Kulcinski
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 4 | November 2007 | Pages 1110-1113
Technical Paper | Nonelectric Applications | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1646
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The performance of a new Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC) fusion device using a cylindrical anode and two different cathode geometries, spherical and cylindrical, was compared to an existing IEC device with two different sized configurations of spherical anodes and cathodes. Experimental data was generated at -30 to -150 kilovolts, 30 milliamps steady-state, and 0.3 Pascal of Deuterium (D) and/or Helium-3 (3He). The best neutron rate achieved by the new device in a D environment was 2.7 × 107 neutrons per second at 145 kV and 35 mA. In a D-3He environment, the best proton rate achieved was 2.0 × 107 protons per second at 130 kV and 30 mA. Both the D-D neutron rate and the D-3He proton rate were approximately 40% lower than the larger volume existing IEC device.