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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. Langenberg, J. Svensson, H. Thomsen, O. Marchuk, N. A. Pablant, R. Burhenn, R. C. Wolf
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 69 | Number 2 | April 2016 | Pages 560-567
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST15-181
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Two X-ray imaging crystal spectrometer systems are currently being prepared for commissioning at the stellarator Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X). Both are expected to be ready for the first plasma operation in 2015. The spectrometers will provide line-integrated measurements of basic plasma parameters like ion and electron temperatures (Te,Ti), plasma rotation (vrot), and argon impurity densities. A forward model based on the designed installation geometries of both spectrometers has been performed using the Minerva Bayesian analysis framework. This model allows us to create synthesized data given radial profiles of plasma parameters for a wide range of different scenarios. To simulate line-integrated spectra as measured by the (virtual) detector, the geometry and Gaussian detection noise are assumed. The line-integrated plasma parameters are inferred within the framework from noisy spectral data using the maximum posterior method. The capabilities and limitations of the model and method are discussed through examples of several synthesized data sets of different plasma parameter profiles.