“…In contrast to the wide scale application of optimal control theory to systems governed by ordinary differential equations, little has been done in the area of optimal con trol for distributed parameter systems. Certain general conditions and functional equations associated with the ap plication of optimal control theory to distributed parameter systems have been derived for general systems (7), and for spatia.My dependent nuclear reactor systems (8,9) . However, in order to obtain solutions to practical problems it has been necessary to devise effective approximation schemes and computational procedures.…”