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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.”
R. Sakamoto, H. Yamada, M. Kobayashi, J. Miyazawa, S. Ohdachi, T. Morisaki, S. Masuzaki, M. Goto, H. Funaba, I. Yamada, K. Ida, S. Morita, B. J. Peterson, N. Ohyabu, A. Komori, O. Motojima, LHD Experiment Group
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 58 | Number 1 | July-August 2010 | Pages 53-60
Chapter 3. Confinement and Transport | Special Issue on Large Helical Device (LHD) | doi.org/10.13182/FST10-A10793
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An interesting high-density operational regime with an internal diffusion barrier (IDB) has been extended to the helical divertor configuration in the Large Helical Device. The IDB is characterized by steep density gradient in core plasma and the attainable central density exceeds 1 × 1021 m-3 at the moderate magnetic field [approximately]2.5 T while keeping relatively low density mantle plasma surrounding the core. In the IDB discharge, significant central pressure rise is observed, and the maximum central pressure attains 150 kPa by optimizing magnetic configuration. Such a high central pressure causes very large Shafranov shift, more than half radius, even at high magnetic field. Core fueling is absolutely essential for the IDB formation, and the IDB is reproducibly obtained by employing intensive multiple-pellet injections. The attainable density is restricted by lack of heat deposition at core plasma due to strong attenuation of a neutral beam in the high-density plasma.