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The home office is located 60 miles east of New York City near the Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University.

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BTG is a member of The United States Industry Coalition, Inc. (USIC), a non-profit association of U.S. companies and universities dedicated to the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction through commercialization of technologies for peaceful purposes.




James R. Powell, Senior Scientist


From left: Dr. J. Paul Farrell and Dr. James R. Powell

Dr. Powell joined Brookhaven Technology Group as a Senior Scientist in 2004. Previously, he was on the staff of Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) since 1956 and later became a Senior Scientist and Head of Reactor Systems' Division in BNL's Dept. of Nuclear Energy. There he carried out R&D on advanced fission and fusion reactor systems for terrestrial and space applications, plasma physics, and nuclear waste disposal. Jim retired from BNL in 1996. Currently, in addition to working at BTG, he is a Director of the Maglev 2000 of Florida Corporation, carrying out R&D on advanced Maglev Systems, and President of Plus Ultra Technologies carrying out R&D on space nuclear power and propulsion systems. Jim has authored over 500 papers and reports, and holds over 20 patents. He was awarded the "Franklin Medal in Engineering" in 2000 AD together with Gordon Danby, for their invention of Superconducting Maglev.

Background on Nuclear Space Power and Propulsion

Powell is the inventor of the Particle Bed Reactor (PBR), which was the basis for the SDI program to develop an ultra lightweight Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) engine for defense applications. The PBR NTP engine components were developed and tested by a National LaboratoryIndustry team (Brookhaven National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory, together with Grumman, Babcock & Wilcox, Garrett, Hercules, and General Dynamics). The PBR engine would have delivered 200,000 Newtons of thrust, with an engine weight of 500 kg and a specific impulse of 1000 seconds from its 3000 K hydrogen propellant. The PBR effort was carried out from 1987 to 1992 at a cost of 200 million dollars. The program was on track to ground test a full up engine, with a flight test in 1997, when the end of the Cold War caused the program to end.

Since then, Powell has continued to work on compact NTP engines for future robotic and manned NASA missions. Plus Ultra Technologies has published a number of papers on the compact MITEE (_MI_nature Reac_T_or _E_ngin_E_) and received several NIACNASA study contracts. The MITEE engine has a number of significant innovations over the PBR engine. It has bi-modal capability, with 14,000 Newtons of thrust in the NTP mode and 20 KW(e) in the electric generation mode, it uses a more durable nuclear fuel (the tungstenUO_2 cermet fuel developed for the 710 engine), and a modular easily scalable pressure tube construction. The total weight of the bi-modal engine is only 200 kilograms for 14,000 Newtons, 20 KW(e) output.

Plus Ultra has also developed a new approach for an ultra lightweight nuclear electric space power system that is based on existing navy reactor fuel and the standard steam power cycle. The SUSEE system achieves 25% cycle efficiency (thermal to electric) with a total system weight (reactor, turbine-generator, and radiator) of only 3 kg per KW(e). The key innovation for the SUSEE system is a lightweight condensing radiator that can be launched as a compact rolled up package with subsequent deployment into a flat panel configuration after reaching orbit. SUSEE can be readily scaled over a wide range of power levels, from 10 KW(e) to 10 MW(e).


Publications
  1. J. Powell, G. Maise, J. Paniagua, and J. Metzger, "Phase 1 - Final Report: Lightweight High Specific Impulse (1000 sec) Space Propulsion Systems," NIAC Phase 1 Report, October 1999.
  2. J. Powell, G. Maise, J. Paniagua, and S. Borowski, "MITEE-B: A Compact Lightweight Bi-Modal Nuclear Engine to Deliver Both High Propulsive Thrust and High Electric Power," Paper IAF-01-S.6.05, 52^nd Int. Astr. Cong., Oct. 1-5, 2001, Toulouse, France.
  3. J. Powell, G. Maise, J. Paniagua, and S. Borowski, "Compact MITEE-B: Bi-Modal Nuclear Engine for Unique New Planetary Science Missions," Paper AIAA 2002-3652, AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference, Indianapolus, Indiana, July 2002.
  4. J. Powell, G. Maise, and J. Paniagua, "Pluto OrbiterLanderSample Return Missions Using the MITEE Nuclear Engine," Paper #1008, 2003 IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, Montana, March 2003.
  5. J. Powell, G. Maise, and J. Paniagua, "SUSEE - Ultra Lightweight Nuclear Space Power Using the Steam Cycle," Paper #1090, 2003 IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, Montana, March 2003.
  6. J. Powell, G. Maise, and J. Paniagua, "Compact Ultra Light Nuclear Electric Power Systems for Future Moon Bases and Colonies," International Lunar Conference, November 16-22, 2003, Hawaii.
  7. J. Powell, G. Maise, and J. Paniagua, "Is NTP the Key to Exploring Space," Aerospace America, January 2004.
Biographical:
  • B.S. Ch.E., Carnegie Institute of Technology. (1953)

  • Sc.D. Nuclear Engineering. MIT (1958)






BTG News

June 22, 2006

Brookhaven Technology Group, Inc., was awarded a new Phase I SBIR grant to develop an advanced surface plasma source for reliable long time production of H¯/D¯ beams with high brightness and high pulsed current and average intensity up to ~20mA. The principal goal of this project is to develop a high performance, long lifetime surface plasma H¯ source by using a unique new highly efficient helicon discharge plasma generator. The plasma flux formed by this helicon discharge will be used for surface plasma generation of H¯.

In Phase I, simulations of plasma generation, ion/atom conversion, and H¯/D¯ surface-plasma generation will be carried out to prove the feasibility of this new approach. The discharge system will be studied, beam extraction and formation including electron suppression will be designed, and computer simulated.

This is the third Phase I SBIR awarded to BTG for development of negative ion source technology. In previous years the company received Phase I and Phase II funding to design, build, and test a high brightness, long lived source of heavy negative ions (HNIS). This source is now available for commercialization. More information about the HNIS is available on this website.









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