ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
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.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
Standards Program
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
April 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.”
J. S. Hong et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 1 | January 2005 | Pages 240-242
Technical Paper | Open Magnetic Systems for Plasma Confinement | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A650
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Continuing the experiments reported previously, additional microwave power has been applied to the plug region of Hanbit in order to increase the stored energy and beta of the hot-electron plasma created there. Two new 1.5-kW VA-806 klystrons at 7.67 GHz and 7.87 GHz have been used in conjunction with the existing 2-kW CPI klystron at 14 GHz. The plasma is created in order to provide a high-beta ring to stabilize the Hanbit central cell plasma against ballooning instabilities. An array of Hall probes mounted on the outside of the Hanbit plug cavity was installed to measure the axial profile of the Bz fields. The total stored energy was measured by diamagnetic loops and the radial location of the plasma was determined by a Si-PIN diode detector measuring the energetic electron end loss. All three measurements were to be used to determine the radial and axial location of the plasma, the plasma volume, the stored energy, and hence the plasma beta. However, the Bz signal was too small to measure and the diamagnetic signal was smaller than previously found. The ring was found to be very wide and not adequate to stabilize the central cell plasma.