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Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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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.”
A. Ando, A. Imasaki, H. Tobari, T. Yagai, K. Hattori, M. Inutake
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 43 | Number 1 | January 2003 | Pages 130-132
Propulsion | doi.org/10.13182/FST03-A11963579
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Macroscopic behavior of a high-beta and supersonic plasma flow produced by a magneto-plasma-dynamic arcjet (MPDA) was investigated in the HITOP device. A macroscopic instability was observed as a bulk rotation of the plasma plume eccentrically around the center axis of the vacuum vessel. We investigated whether it was caused by current-driven or pressure-driven instability. A plasma current circulating in the plasma plume was controlled by changing discharge current, magnetic field configuration and mass flow rate and by inserting a copper-mesh grid. It was found that the plasma plume was macroscopically stable when the current extending into the plasma plume was low and the safety factor was more than unity. This indicates that the observed macroscopic instability was mainly caused by a current-driven one.
