Electrical Conductivity of Weakly Ionized ³He-Na Nuclear Plasma

Electrical conductivities of weakly ionized nuclear plasmas were computed by numerically solving an electron Boltzmann equation. A pure ³He gas and ³He-Na gaseous mixtures were analyzed. The gases are ionized by fast ions (0.19-MeV tritons and 0.59-MeV protons), which are generated from in situ neutron-³He nuclear reactions. The results show that the electrical conductivity of the ³He-Na gaseous mixtures is higher than that of the pure helium gas because of the enhanced ionization of seeded sodium atoms by subexcitation electrons. This effect is not included in a standard Maxwellian model. An analytical formula of W values for gaseous mixtures was suggested to incorporate the effect of subexcitation electrons. The formula can be applied to analyze chemically complex systems.