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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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Latest News
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
A. D. Beklemishev
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 59 | Number 1 | January 2011 | Pages 90-93
doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A11581
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Feedback control is routinely used in modern plasma traps for adjusting plasma equilibrium on the transport time scale. Some intrinsic properties of magnetic mirrors make it possible to employ feedback control for stabilization of flute modes as well. Purely electromagnetic plasma-control system that is independent of line-tying or plasma conductivity to the end-plates is proposed. The system adds transverse flexibility to the plasma column, so that any growing perturbation can be deformed to become anti-ballooning. Anti-ballooning form means reduced flute amplitude in bad-curvature regions and enhanced amplitude in expanders or other traditional stabilizers, so that energy of the perturbation becomes positive and the mode is suppressed. Detailed analysis shows that transverse flexibility (or tail-waving) of the discharge can be employed for feedback stabilization even without good-curvature regions. The only requirement is that the discharge inertia (field-weighted plasma density) and the pressure-weighted field curvature are differently distributed along the discharge. If based on inertia, the stabilization mechanism resembles the rope-walker act. Estimates show that the power cost of such stabilization is reasonable and scales inversely with the trap length.