Gas heating by fission fragments

The authors describe the use of fission fragments for the direct heating and ionization of gases. The maximum of the ratio of the amount of energy transferred to the gas by fragments to the nonuniformity coefficient of energy release in the gas is used here as the optimization criterion. Parameters are given of heat release nonuniformity and gas heating efficiency in a flat channel. Specific values of the mean free path of fission fragments in different gases are presented. It is found that the optimum conditions of gas heating by fission fragments are not heavily dependent on the law of fragment moderation or on the differences between their initial energies and ranges.