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Latest News
Commercial nuclear innovation "new space" age
In early 2006, a start-up company launched a small rocket from a tiny island in the Pacific. It exploded, showering the island with debris. A year later, a second launch attempt sent a rocket to space but failed to make orbit, burning up in the atmosphere. Another year brought a third attempt—and a third failure. The following month, in September 2008, the company used the last of its funds to launch a fourth rocket. It reached orbit, making history as the first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket to do so.
Gregory C. Hahn, Elijah H. Martin, Mohamed A. Bourham
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 4 | May 2005 | Pages 1197-1201
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Inertial Fusion Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A850
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Plasma interaction with first wall and interior reactor chamber components is an influencing factor in the design of inertial fusion facilities. The concept of a liquid metal wall, in which a circulating lithium curtain would be used, has been considered in many studies. The interaction of plasmas with moving liquid metals is a complex subject due to the influence of hydrodynamics, evaporation and droplet formation, nucleation and agglomeration of condensed particulates. To gain an understanding of some of the specific details of this interaction an experimental setup of an arc-generated plasma interacting with a liquid lead pool has been designed, constructed and operated. This simulation of the plasma-liquid interaction focuses on the particle condensation of the liquid metal after plasma interaction. The experiment generates transient high-density plasma over 50 s pulse duration. Plasma characteristics are determined by various diagnostics. A set of collection substrates are arranged to collect nucleated particulates condensing from the evolving plume. Particulate size and distribution are analyzed numerically using digital images.