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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.”
Shlomo Ron, Judah Tzoref, Doron Gal
Nuclear Technology | Volume 97 | Number 3 | March 1992 | Pages 294-302
Technical Paper | Nuclear Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT92-A34637
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The amount of fission product release during a core heatup accident in a medium-sized high-temperature gas reactor depends on the size of the inadvertent opening in the primary circuit; this dependence is assessed. The opening triggers a depressurization event that is assumed to be coupled with the failure of the forced circulation in both decay-heat removal systems. The scenario investigated is a beyond-design-base accident. The DSNP modular simulation code is used. A two-dimensional model is developed to simulate the HTR-500 design. The study shows that the depressurization process does not contribute significantly to the sweeping out (from the primary circuit) of fission products released from the fuel during the core heatup. There is also no significant variation in the results when the opening size is >33 cm2, and only a slight sensitivity is found when the rupture size is between 3.3 and 33 cm2. The fission product release decreases considerably in the range from 1 to 3.3 cm2. The smallsized rupture is of major significance, as the failure of the relief valves to reclose increases the frequency of the event. In addition, the highest core temperature in the most severe depressurization accident scenario is evaluated, and its calculated value is lower than the graphite sublimation temperature. Although the simulation closely follows the German HTR-500 design, the conclusions may be applied to the general concept of the medium-sized high-temperature gas reactor.
