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The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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.”
Shoji Watanabe, Kojiro Nishina
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 86 | Number 3 | March 1984 | Pages 283-296
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE84-A17557
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A stability analysis using a one-group model is presented for a coupled-core system. Positive prompt feedback of a γpj form is assumed, where pj is the fractional power variation of core j. Prompt power variations over a range of a few milliseconds after a disturbance are analyzed. The analysis combines Liapunov's method, prompt jump approximation, and the eigenfunction expansion of coupling region response flux. The last is treated as a pseudo-delayed neutron precursor. An asymptotic stability region is found for pj. For an asymmetric flux variation over a system of two coupled cores, either pI or pII can slightly exceed, by virtue of the coupling effect, the critical value (β/γ − 1) of a single-core case. Such a stability region is increased by additional inclusion of the coupling region fundamental mode in the treatment. The coupling region contributes to stability through its delayed response and coupling. An optimum core separation distance for stability is found.
