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September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Remembering ANS member Gil Brown
Brown
The nuclear community is mourning the loss of Gilbert Brown, who passed away on July 11 at the age of 77 following a battle with cancer.
Brown, an American Nuclear Society Fellow and an ANS member for nearly 50 years, joined the faculty at Lowell Technological Institute—now the University of Massachusetts–Lowell—in 1973 and remained there for the rest of his career. He eventually became director of the UMass Lowell nuclear engineering program. After his retirement, he remained an emeritus professor at the university.
Sukesh Aghara, chair of the Nuclear Engineering Department Heads Organization, noted in an email to NEDHO members and others that “Gil was a relentless advocate for nuclear energy and a deeply respected member of our professional community. He was also a kind and generous friend—and one of the reasons I ended up at UMass Lowell. He served the university with great dedication. . . . Within NEDHO, Gil was a steady presence and served for many years as our treasurer. His contributions to nuclear engineering education and to this community will be dearly missed.”
Hiroaki Ogawa, Kiyoshi Kiuchi
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 152 | Number 2 | February 2006 | Pages 236-241
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE06-A2578
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Heavy rare gases like Xe have the highest abundance as fission products formed with dependence on the burnup of nuclear fuels. The interaction between heavy rare gases and low-energy electrons excited by the irradiation effect is very important for understanding the gas release mechanism and for developing the collecting method of radioactive fission product gases. Two types of plasma-testing apparatuses for the opened and closed low-energy plasmas were arranged using the radio frequency exciting source. The excitation behavior was evaluated by measuring the density and the temperature of the excited electrons. The electron density in the opened plasma increased with increase of the ionization energy of each rare gas. However, the electron density in the closed plasma of heavy rare gases (Ar, Kr, and Xe) was enhanced nearly a thousand times higher than that of light rare gases (Ne and He). The difference was interpreted as based on the cross section for energy transfer to the low-energy electron formed by the multisputtering effect on wall surfaces in the closed plasma.