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ANS Student Conference 2025
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Fusion Science and Technology
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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.”
Wu-Sheng Shih, R. B. Stephens, W. J. James
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 37 | Number 1 | January 2000 | Pages 24-31
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST00-A118
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Composite coatings containing beryllium are prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition at a substrate temperature as low as 250°C in a radio-frequency-induced cylindrical plasma reactor. Diethylberyllium is used as the precursor together with hydrogen as a coreactant gas. These coatings are characterized by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, electrical resistivity, and thermogravimetric analysis. AES indicates that the composition of the coatings reaches a steady level at a depth of 300 Å from the surface and maintains a constant composition throughout the thickness of the coatings. The characterization studies establish the dominant phase to be Be2C. The coatings are also resistant to oxidation and hydrolysis in dry/moist air unlike bulk Be2C. It is found that the coatings deposited close to the diethylberyllium inlet contain amorphous beryllium that is homogeneously dispersed in a Be2C matrix. Films of ~5-m thickness with an acceptable permeability to H2 are prepared. These coatings meet some of the major requirements of the ablator material for inertial confinement fusion target capsules.