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Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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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.”
E. A. Mogahed, L. El-Guebaly, A. Abdou, P. Wilson, D. Henderson, ARIES Team
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 39 | Number 2 | March 2001 | Pages 462-466
Advanced Designs | doi.org/10.13182/FST01-A11963279
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Loss of coolant accident (LOCA) and loss of flow accident (LOFA) analysis is performed for ARIES-AT, an advanced fusion power plant design (1000 MWe). ARIES-AT employs a high performance, high temperature blanket system. It uses the high temperature SiC/SiC for structural material and LiPb for coolant-breeder. Due to the large difference between the time scale of plasma shutdown and the coolant or power loss, it is assumed that the plasma is immediately quenched at the onset of the LOCA/LOFA and the chamber components' temperature begins to rise due to the decay heat generated. A 2-D transient finite element model is established to examine the thermal behavior of the in-vessel components to determine the maximum temperature reached, the time, and duration of the peak. The model is axisymmetric in (r-z) around the reactor axis to show the details of temperature distribution in the vertical direction. The vacuum vessel is assumed adiabatic in the inboard side and radiates to the maintenance port located on the outboard side. The maximum temperature of steel in the reactor is about (600 °C - 700°C) after about 4 days from the onset of the accident. The highest temperature in the reactor is in the divertor region and it reaches ≈1050°C after about 2-3 hours. The analysis indicates that the reactor does not need any special scheme for decay heat removal.
