Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate Council
   in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
             Degree of Doctor of Philosophy


                FISSIONING URANIUM PLASMA
                  FOR ROCKET PROPULSION


                           By

                   Henry Foust Atwater


                       March, 1968


Chairman: Dr. M. J. Ohanian Major Department: Nuclear Engineering Sciences


        A fissioning uranium plasma for use as a high

temperature self-sustaining energy conversion device is studied theoretically. The study is oriented with par-ticular emphasis on the use of the fissioning plasma as a heat source for rocket propulsion systems, although the ideas and methods which are developed can also be applied to a closed cycle heating system which utilizes the fissioning plasma principle.

        The effects of coupling mechanisms between nucleonic and plasma properties of the fissioning plasma are identified and analyzed for a reference model. The model is based on a central fuel region of fully enriched uranium surrounded by a hydrogen coolant region, contained within a cylindrical graphite chamber. The uranium region