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Godzilla is helping ITER prepare for tokamak assembly
ITER employees stand by Godzilla, the most powerful commercially available industrial robot available. (Photo: ITER)
Many people are familiar with Godzilla as a giant reptilian monster that emerged from the sea off the coast of Japan, the product of radioactive contamination. These days, there is a new Godzilla, but it has a positive—and entirely fact-based—association with nuclear energy. This one has emerged inside the Tokamak Assembly Preparation Building of ITER in southern France.
Yoichi Watanabe, Jacob Appelbaum, Isaac Maya
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 110 | Number 2 | February 1992 | Pages 109-127
Technical Papers | doi.org/10.13182/NSE92-A23881
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The combination of a gaseous core fission reactor with a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) generator can lead to more efficient conversion of fission energy to electricity than can conventional conversion systems. A system concept currently being investigated utilizes uranium tetrafluoride (UF4) as fuel and potassium or potassium fluoride (KF) as the working fluid. The electrical conductivity of the gas greatly influences the performance of the MHD generator. It is possible to enhance the electrical conductivity by taking advantage of fission fragment ions born in the fissile gas-working gas mixture. To study and quantify this effect, a chemical reaction model as well as a physical model are developed. The governing rate equations and an electron energy balance equation are numerically solved for steady-state and spatially homogeneous cases. The electrical conductivity of a UF4-K/KF gaseous mixture is shown to be a function of neutron flux at representative gas conditions (2500 K and 1 atm). The enhancement is achieved because of the rise in electron temperature due to fission fragment heating.