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Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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Remembering Charles E. Till
Charles E. Till
Charles E. Till, an ANS member since 1963 and Fellow since 1987, passed away on March 22 at the age of 89. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Saskatchewan and a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from Imperial College, University of London. Till initially worked for the Civilian Atomic Power Department of the Canadian General Electric Company, where he was the physicist in charge of the startup of the first prototype CANDU reactor in Canada.
Till joined Argonne National Laboratory in 1963 in the Applied Physics Division, where he worked as an experimentalist in the Fast Critical Experiments program. He then moved to additional positions of increasing responsibility, becoming division director in 1973. Under his leadership, the Applied Physics Division established itself as one of the elite reactor physics organizations in the world. Both the experimental (critical experiments and nuclear data measurements) and nuclear analysis methods work were internationally recognized. Till led Argonne’s participation in the International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation (INFCE), and he was the lead U.S. delegate to INFCE Working Group 5, Fast Breeders.
Eric Tucker, J. Gilligan
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 33 | Number 2 | March 1998 | Pages 118-129
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A22
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The vapor shield outward expansion rate can be shown to affect energy transport through the vapor shield, thereby influencing the vapor shield effectiveness. To more accurately determine the divertor plate erosion depth from a tokamak fusion reactor disruption or plasma gun sources, it is then necessary to include source plasma (beam) momentum transfer and beam mass deposition to the expanding vapor shield. Other factors such as incident heat flux and target Z value are shown to influence the vapor shield expansion rate as well. Code calculations show that increasing heat fluxes can increase the fraction of vapor shield kinetic energy and lower the fraction f of incident energy transported to the solid. Low-Z materials give higher kinetic energies as well but result in a higher f due to a lower specific heat. These results can also be applied to plasma gun technology to help increase its efficiency. In an electrothermal gun, the plasma expansion rate (rate at which vaporized material travels out of the gun) can cause differing plasma residence times and differing plasma temperatures as well. Determining the mechanisms that influence the vapor shield expansion rate and showing its sensitivity on f can give us a qualitative way of determining how changing parameters can influence plasma gun efficiency. Low-energy (<200 eV) disruption plasmas add much mass as well as momentum to a vapor shield. Mass addition can cause the vapor shield temperature and f to differ for a given incident heat flux and change the vapor shield expansion rate as well. Also, we find that deuterium's shielding effectiveness differs from carbon.