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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.”
Qian Zhang, Hongchun Wu, Liangzhi Cao, Youqi Zheng
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 179 | Number 3 | March 2015 | Pages 233-252
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE13-108
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The deviation of the effective resonance cross section obtained by conventional equivalence theory for a heterogeneous system is analyzed. It is shown that several approximations commonly adopted in conventional equivalence theory account for the deviation at different levels, with the narrow resonance (NR) approximation being the main source of deviation. Based on the analysis, an improved method based on equivalence theory is proposed. It utilizes the resonance fine flux integral table to minimize the deviation caused by NR approximation. The validity of the method is confirmed by test calculations of effective resonance cross sections in different geometries and different energy group structures. The results of eigenvalue calculations on typical fuel pin cells show that the proposed improvement is effective in reducing the error of infinite multiplication factors of the pin cell. Since the resonance fine flux integral used in this method has already been obtained in calculating the resonance integral table and can be pre-tabulated in the process of generating the library, the implementation of the proposed method is simple and requires no additional calculations. It is useful for improving the accuracy of lattice physics codes based on the equivalence theory.