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This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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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.”
Ikuji Takagi, Ryoutarou Sugiura, Kazushi Shirai, Kunio Higashi
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 41 | Number 3 | May 2002 | Pages 902-906
Material Interaction and Permeation | Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Tritium Science and Technology Tsukuba, Japan November 12-16, 2001 | doi.org/10.13182/FST02-A22715
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Isotropic graphite of ETP-10 was exposed to a deuterium rf-plasma at room temperature and depth profiles of deuterium near the plasma-facing surface were observed by a nuclear reaction analysis. The depth profile consisted of two parts, which were a peak at the surface and a gradual slope downward to the depths. The surface density of deuterium estimated from the peak area was saturated with longer time and hardly decreased after the exposure. This was explained by that the incident deuterium atoms from the plasma were absorbed on deuterium-free sites and absorbed atoms were not desorbed. The deuterium concentration in the bulk increased nearly in proportion to the square root of time and gradually decreased after the plasma exposure. This was explained by a simple diffusion model and an apparent diffusion coefficient was found to be 2x10−18 m2s−1 from the depth profile.