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Fusion Science and Technology
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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.”
M. Tokitani, N. Yoshida, M. Miyamoto, T. Hino, Y. Nobuta, S. Masuzaki, N. Ashikawa, A. Sagara, N. Noda, H. Yamada, A. Komori, LHD Experiment Group
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 58 | Number 1 | July-August 2010 | Pages 305-320
Chapter 7. Plasmas-Wall Interactions | Special Issue on Large Helical Device (LHD) | doi.org/10.13182/FST10-A10817
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Large Helical Device (LHD) has been equipped with movable- and fixed-type material probe systems. Characterization studies of surface modifications on plasma-facing components (PFCs) have been actively progressing by using these probes. After exposure of the PFCs to the plasma, various kinds of surface analysis were conducted. The first walls and divertor tiles of LHD are made of stainless steel and isotropic graphite (IG-430U, Toyo Tanso Co., Ltd.), respectively. They are frequently exposed not only to high-power pulsed main discharges but also to wall-conditioning processes such as glow discharge cleaning (GDC). Thus, the surfaces of the PFCs are drastically changed due to sputtering erosion, impurity deposition, and melting damage. Graphite divertor tiles are eroded primarily during the main discharges; the eroded carbon migrates and deposits on the first-wall surfaces, particularly near the divertor array. First walls are eroded mainly during GDC, which significantly changes the condition of the PFCs. During the main discharges, the majority of incidence particles to the first wall are energetic neutrals (CX neutrals) generated by charge-exchange collisions. Studies of the material damage caused by CX neutrals also have been done. In this paper, the characteristics of surface modifications of PFCs by means of material probe experiments and subsequent surface analysis are summarized.