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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.”
F. Saint-Laurent, G. Martin, T. Alarcon, A. Le Luyer, P. B. Parks, P. Pastor, S. Putvinski, C. Reux, J. Bucalossi, S. Bremond, Ph. Moreau
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 64 | Number 4 | November 2013 | Pages 711-718
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-A24090
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Runaway electrons (REs) generated during disruption are identified as a major issue for ITER and reactor-size tokamaks. Such electrons are produced when a large toroidal electric field is generated in the plasma. This field continuously accelerates low-collisional electrons up to relativistic energy. Such a large electric field occurs both in the plasma core at thermal quench of the disruption when the current profile flattens due to high magnetohydrodynamic activity, and during the current quench (CQ) of a disruption. These REs may initiate secondary RE generation during CQ due to the avalanching process, leading to a multiplication of these relativistic electrons. The impact of REs on the first wall is well localized due to their very small pitch angle. The energy deposition may be huge, and plasma-facing component damages are often reported.Mitigation techniques are thus mandatory to suppress RE formation or/and reduce their heat loads. Two ways are explored on Tore Supra: (a) suppressing the RE beam formation and avalanche amplification by multiple gas jet injections at CQ and (b) controlling the RE beam when it is formed and increasing the collisionality to slow down the relativistic electrons.