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Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
K. Kubota, I. Funaki, Y. Okuno (19P02)
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 51 | Number 2 | February 2007 | Pages 220-222
Technical Paper | Open Magnetic Systems for Plasma Confinement | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1355
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The influence of the Hall effect on the current distribution and the plasma flow was investigated using two-dimensional numerical simulation for a self-field MagnetoPlasmaDynamic (MPD) thruster consisting of a short cathode and a flared anode. When the Argon mass flow rate and the total discharge current were set to 0.8 g/s and 5 kA respectively, the result with the Hall effect showed that concentrations of current density on the root of the cathode and on the edge of the flared anode were found. Such a highly skewed current lines near the cathode are caused by large local Hall parameters, which also lead to a large potential drop near the cathode surface.