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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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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.”
Donald L. Smith
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 69 | Number 1 | January 1979 | Pages 109-114
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE79-A21294
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Cross-section ratios for production of 0.843-, 1.013-, and 2.209-MeV gamma rays at 55 deg by the 27Al(n,n′γ)27Al reaction relative to fast-neutron fission of 235U have been measured at intervals of ∼0.05 MeV from threshold up to ∼2.5 MeV, with an average neutron energy resolution of ∼0.08 MeV. These ratios and ENDF/B-IV fission cross sections were used to compute gamma-ray production cross sections. Gamma-ray angular distributions were measured at En = 1.112, 1.310, 1.512, 1.714, 1.914, 2.118, 2.310, and 2.512 MeV. These distributions were found to be isotropic within the experimental errors. The experimental results are compared with data from the literature and with results from optical/statistical model calculations of neutron inelastic scattering from aluminum.