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The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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General Kenneth Nichols and the Manhattan Project
Nichols
The Oak Ridger has published the latest in a series of articles about General Kenneth D. Nichols, the Manhattan Project, and the 1954 Atomic Energy Act. The series has been produced by Nichols’ grandniece Barbara Rogers Scollin and Oak Ridge (Tenn.) city historian David Ray Smith. Gen. Nichols (1907–2000) was the district engineer for the Manhattan Engineer District during the Manhattan Project.
As Smith and Scollin explain, Nichols “had supervision of the research and development connected with, and the design, construction, and operation of, all plants required to produce plutonium-239 and uranium-235, including the construction of the towns of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Richland, Washington. The responsibility of his position was massive as he oversaw a workforce of both military and civilian personnel of approximately 125,000; his Oak Ridge office became the center of the wartime atomic energy’s activities.”
A. D. Turnbull, D. P. Brennan, M. S. Chu, L. L. Lao, P. B. Snyder
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 48 | Number 2 | October 2005 | Pages 875-905
Technical Paper | DIII-D Tokamak - Achieving Reactor-Level Plasma Pressure | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A1046
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Theory and simulation have provided one of the critical foundations for many of the significant achievements in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability in DIII-D over the past two decades. Early signature achievements included the validation of tokamak MHD stability limits, beta and performance optimization through cross-section shaping and profiles, and the development of new operational regimes. More recent accomplishments encompass the realization and sustainment of wall stabilization using plasma rotation and active feedback, a new understanding of edge stability and its relation to edge-localized modes, and recent successes in predicting resistive tearing and interchange instabilities. The key to success has been the synergistic tie between the theory effort and the experiment made possible by the detailed equilibrium reconstruction data available in DIII-D and the corresponding attention to the measured details in the modeling. This interaction fosters an emphasis on the important phenomena and leads to testable theoretical predictions. Also important is the application of a range of analytic and simulation techniques, coupled with a program of numerical tool development. The result is a comprehensive integrated approach to fusion science and improving the tokamak approach to burning plasmas.