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ANS Student Conference 2025
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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. I. Kislyakov, A. J. H. Donné, L. I. Krupnik, S. S. Medley, M. P. Petrov
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 53 | Number 2 | February 2008 | Pages 577-603
Technical Paper | Plasma Diagnostics for Magnetic Fusion Research | doi.org/10.13182/FST08-A1680
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Three techniques for particle diagnostics of magnetically confined fusion plasmas are reviewed: charge exchange neutral particle analysis, Rutherford scattering, and heavy ion beam probes. The physical basis and instrumentation for each technique are described. Typical examples obtained by these diagnostics are presented. Charge exchange analysis is used for ion temperature measurements in small- and medium-sized plasma devices and for the study of the ion energy distribution function, especially in the suprathermal energy range. It also provides an ion isotope composition determination that is a high-priority task for ITER. Rutherford scattering enables local measurements of the ion temperature as well as measurements of the ion collective velocity. The heavy ion beam probe diagnostic gives a unique opportunity to measure locally the electric plasma potential and, by that, the electric field profile in a plasma and its influence on confinement. Other significant options of this diagnostic are the measurements of the local electron density and fluctuations in these quantities. Prospects for the application of the various techniques to ITER are discussed.