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Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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Fusion Science and Technology
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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.”
Yasufumi Tanaka, Heun Tae Lee, Yoshio Ueda, Masayoshi Nagata, Yusuke Kikuchi, Satoshi Suzuki, Yohji Seki
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 68 | Number 2 | September 2015 | Pages 433-437
Technical Paper | Proceedings of TOFE-2014 | doi.org/10.13182/FST15-109
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In this study, surface damaged W monoblocks (melting and cracking) by a pulsed plasma gun and an e-beam devices were exposed to cyclic heat loads (simulating normal heat loads and slow transients) and pulsed heat loads (simulating ELMs) to observe the effects of surface damage on surface erosion and heat removal capability. Heat load tests simulating the normal heat load (10 MW/m2, 10 sec, 300 cycles) and the slow transient (~20 MW/m2, 10 sec, 300 cycles) were performed by the e-beam. The surface morphology changes after the heat load tests were observed using laser scanning microscopy and FE-SEM. After e-beam irradiation of ~20 MW/m2, the longitudinal cracks crossing over entire monoblocks appeared on the surfaces of all monoblocks. Recrystallization and additional crack formation were also observed on the surface. However, there was no significant change of heat removal capability. In the additional pulsed heat load test, the energy fluence of 0.042-0.30MJ/m2 was applied with pulse numbers of 103 and 104.The surface morphology changes after laser irradiation were observed using laser scanning microscope. After laser irradiation, the grain ejection occurred above a certain energy fluence (~25 % of melting threshold).
