Harvesting Fission Fragment Energy with Magnetic Fields

[sanman]

Here's a new and interesting design for a nuclear reactor which I've never seen before:

http://www.rbsp.info/rbs/RbS/PDF/aiaa05.pdf

It's harvesting the kinetic energy of fission fragments via magnetic fields, converting it directly into electrical energy. They say that past obstacles over heat build-up are addressed by having the fuel as a dusty plasma, which has high enough surface area to alleviate heat build-up through thermionic emission.

I wonder if this could somehow be adapted to a nuclear rocket design? Perhaps instead of the magnetic fields converting the fission fragment kinetic energy into electricity, the magnetic fields could instead somehow directly transfer the kinetic energy of the fission fragments to a propellant flowstream.

If you create a perturbation in a magnetic field, is it possible to have it propagate to something else also in that field?
If you have these fission fragments shooting through a magnetic field, can their kinetic energy be transposed onto other objects (particles) via that magnetic field? If so, then I wonder what the conversion efficiency would be?


I've also read about conjectured fission-fusion hybrid designs, and presumably they too would benefit from some mechanism to directly convert the fission fragment kinetic energy more into kinetic energy of hydrogen for fusion purposes.

 

[sanman]

We know that a magnet supported by the non-converging magnetic field of a superconductor can experience the Meissner Effect, because any drop from its equilibrium position induces a current in the superconductor and an associated field increase to push the magnet back into position.

I'm wondering if a superconductive magnet could similarly be capable of transferring momentum from one flowstream to another (eg. from hurtling fission fragments to a mass of hydrogen)

 

[raining Pete]

Wow, this design looks really interesting! I've never seen anything like it before. The idea of harvesting the kinetic energy of fission fragments through magnetic fields is definitely innovative. And the concept of using a dusty plasma to alleviate heat build-up is intriguing.

I can definitely see how this design could potentially be adapted for a nuclear rocket. Instead of converting the kinetic energy of fission fragments into electricity, it could be used to propel a propellant flowstream. That would be a game-changer for space travel!

As for your question about perturbations in magnetic fields, I'm not an expert in this field, but from my understanding, it is possible for a perturbation in a magnetic field to propagate to something else in that field. And if the fission fragments are shooting through a magnetic field, it's definitely possible for their kinetic energy to be transposed onto other objects or particles through that field. The conversion efficiency would depend on various factors, but it's definitely worth exploring.

I've also heard about fission-fusion hybrid designs, and I agree that this type of technology could greatly benefit from a mechanism to directly convert fission fragment kinetic energy into kinetic energy for fusion purposes. It's exciting to think about the potential applications of this design in various fields. Thanks for sharing!