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Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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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.”
Yoshi Hirooka, Haishan Zhou
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 66 | Number 1 | July-August 2014 | Pages 63-69
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-777
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The first wall of a magnetic fusion DEMO reactor serves to separate the edge plasma from breeding blanket, the latter of which is required to operate at elevated temperatures. To minimize the thermo-mechanical stress, the wall thickness is often limited to be less than 1 cm. As a result, the first wall is subjected to hydrogen isotopes permeation in the two opposite directions via plasma-driven permeation (PDP) by D+ (or D0) and T+ (or T0) in the edge plasma region and via gas-driven permeation (GDP) by T2 bred in the blanket. In the present work, the bi-directional hydrogen permeation behavior through a candidate first wall material, F82H, has been studied, using a laboratory-scale plasma device. Experimental data indicate that GDP tends to dominate the overall hydrogen isotopes transport. The effects of surface roughness and contamination on PDP have been investigated. Also, a one-dimensional diffusion code has been used to simulate bi-directional PDP and GDP under reactor-relevant conditions where multiple hydrogen isotopes flow through the first wall.
