CHAPTER VIII

   RADIANT ENERGY TRANSFER AND TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION Nucleonic-Plasma Coupling in Fissioning Uranium Plasma

        Before discussing the mathematical techniques used in calculating the nucleonic-plasma coupling effects, a brief description of the approach used in treating these effects is given.

        Step 1.--The reactor pressure is specified and is

assumed to be constant within the graphite reaction chamber.

        Step 2.--The NORM program is used to calculate the radial density distributions of uranium and hydrogen in a simulated coaxial flow of fuel and coolant. The distribution parameters are chosen such that the reactor is critical.

        Step 3.--The distribution of energy produced by

fissioning uranium is calculated using the uranium distribution from Step 2.

        Step 4.--The radiant energy transfer and resulting temperature distribution is calculated.

        Step 5.--Using the pressure specified in Step 1 and the temperature calculated in Step 4, the UPLAZ-2, HUPLAZ-2, and HPLAZ programs calculate the resulting radial hydrogen and uranium distributions. These distributions


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