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Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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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.”
S.G.E. Pronko, S. Delaware, T.E. Harris, D. Hoyt, D.H. Kellman, R.A. Legg, M. Lontoc, A. Nerem, J.R. Valentine
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 39 | Number 2 | March 2001 | Pages 1111-1115
Plasma Engineering, Heating, and Current Drive | doi.org/10.13182/FST01-A11963393
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The DIII-D National Fusion Facility at General Atomics is completing the upgrade of its electron cyclotron heating (ECH) capability from the previous 3 MW at 110 GHz to 6 MW of generated microwave power.1 An 8.4 MW modulator/regulator (M/R) power system has been designed and constructed.2 Surplus hardware that was acquired from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Mirror Fusion Test Facility (MFTF program) was used as part of the design foundation. The power system, with a nominal output of −80 kV and 80 A, can supply a pair of gyrotrons with up to 10 second long pulses that may or may not be modulated.
The modulator/regulator was designed about the BBC CKQ200-4 tetrode, which was the key component acquired from the LLNL program. In order to meet the performance goals of the program, substantial design modifications were needed to be made on the grid driver amplifier and the closed-loop feedback regulator circuits.3 Also, a newly designed crowbar switch system, featuring a high speed, thyratron-like triggered gas switch, was implemented. The modulator/regulator performance to date has been demonstrated as having <0.06% peak-to-peak ripple and square wave modulation of 50% amplitude at 2 kHz. The key features of the design of the power system and its performance will be presented in this paper.
