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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.”
C. A. Ciarcia, G. P. Couchell, J. J. Egan, G. H. R. Kegel, S. Q. Li, A. Mittler, D. J. Pullen, W. A. Schier, J. Q. Shao
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 91 | Number 4 | December 1985 | Pages 428-443
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE85-A18359
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Fast neutron inelastic scattering cross sections for levels between 700- and 1400-keV excitation energy in 232Th have been measured using the (n,n′) time-of-flight (TOF) technique. Measurements of 125-deg differential cross sections were made using neutrons with a typical energy spread of 8 to 10 keV, generated by the 7Li(p,n)7Be reaction. The incident neutron energies covered three regions: (a) 950 to 1550 keV in 50-keV intervals with the TOF spectrometer optimized to detect 200- to 600-keV scattered neutrons, (b) 1200 to 2000 keV in 100-keV intervals with the spectrometer optimized to detect 400- to 800-keV scattered neutrons, and (c) 1700 to 2100 keV in 100-keV steps with the spectrometer optimized for 800- to 1300-keV scattered neutrons. Throughout the experiment, an overall energy resolution of < 15 keV was maintained. Level cross sections were deduced from the 125-deg differential scattering cross sections and are compared with (n,n′λ) measurements and the ENDF/B-V evaluation. Angular distributions for states in the 700- to 900- keV region have been measured at 1.2, 1.5, and 2.0 MeV.
