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Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy
The mission of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division (NNPD) is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology while simultaneously preventing the diversion and misuse of nuclear material and technology through appropriate safeguards and security, and promotion of nuclear nonproliferation policies. To achieve this mission, the objectives of the NNPD are to: Promote policy that discourages the proliferation of nuclear technology and material to inappropriate entities. Provide information to ANS members, the technical community at large, opinion leaders, and decision makers to improve their understanding of nuclear nonproliferation issues. Become a recognized technical resource on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and security issues. Serve as the integration and coordination body for nuclear nonproliferation activities for the ANS. Work cooperatively with other ANS divisions to achieve these objective nonproliferation policies.
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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. K. Knight, D. R. Harding
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 49 | Number 4 | May 2006 | Pages 728-736
Technical Paper | Target Fabrication | doi.org/10.13182/FST06-A1193
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Vapor deposited PMDA-ODA poly(amic acid) and polyimide capsules have been produced with desirable material properties (high tensile strength, permeability, and elastic modulus), but the contributions of the process steps and their dependence on external control variables has not been investigated. We have combined numerical simulations with experimental measurements to model the steps of the vapor deposition process including monomer sublimation, vapor transport to the bounce pan, and poly-condensation on the substrate surfaces. The measured sublimation rates of PMDA and ODA monomer at temperatures that yielded stoichiometric poly(amic acid) (10-6 Torr deposition) are 1.2 × 10-7 gm/s PMDA (at 153° C) and 6.3 × 10-10 gm/s ODA (at 126° C) - a 180:1 PMDA:ODA molar ratio. These provide initial boundary conditions to simulate the thermal environment and vapor transport inside the deposition chamber at 1 × 10-2 Torr. A disproportionate loss of PMDA gas during transport to a stationary mandrel is shown by the numerical model to reduce the monomer stoichiometry to 9:1 PMDA:ODA. The transport-based loss depends strongly on the geometry of the substrate support, as is shown by modifying the substrate to change the flow pattern, which reduces this ratio to 1:1 PMDA:ODA above the mandrel. A separate model of the kinetics of monomer deposition and polymerization reactions was developed to correlate the gas concentrations above the substrate with the elemental concentrations comprising the film. This basic model was tested with rate constants based on reaction probabilities of one and equal deposition rates for two monomers in the absence of measured values and is sensitive to changes in vapor stoichiometry.