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Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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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.”
Lei Ren, Jianqiang Zhu
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 71 | Number 2 | February 2017 | Pages 137-143
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST16-101
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The target area of a 288-beam inertial confinement fusion laser driver was designed to allow lasers for direct-drive illumination, spherical hohlraum with six laser entrance holes (6LEHs), and baseline cylindrical hohlraums. The suggested radius of a target chamber was 6.0 m based on the ratio of the total port area to chamber area. Beam port distribution on the chamber was calculated if the direct propagation of laser beams into opposing beam ports was avoided, and this distribution was compatible with spherical hohlraums with 6LEHs without additional ports opened. According to the symmetry of the beam port distribution, an X-shaped beam-guiding system (BGS) in the switchyard was proposed and arranged within a baseline algorithm. The switch between direct- and indirect-drive modes was easy to operate using this BGS concept.
