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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.”
K. L. Sequoia, H. Huang, R. B. Stephens, K. A. Moreno, K. C. Chen, A. Nikroo
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 59 | Number 1 | January 2011 | Pages 35-38
Technical Paper | Nineteenth Target Fabrication Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST59-35
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Inertial confinement fusion capsules must be manufactured with a high degree of azimuthal symmetry to avoid degradation by Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities. Therefore, the azimuthal fluctuations of each capsule must be characterized. We have developed a precision radiography method capable of measuring X-ray optical depth fluctuations to 1 part in 104 with a spatial resolution of 120 m. Achieving the measurement accuracy requires counting many photons.Recent measurements of glow discharge polymer (GDP) capsules show that the high X-ray intensity required to minimize measurement time modifies the GDP shell by increasing the oxygen atomic percent. An equatorial band forms that is more optically dense than the remainder of the capsule. We believe that free radicals are formed in the GDP as a result of the X-ray exposure. These free radicals preferentially absorb oxygen from the air. We will discuss how this optically dense band forms, how it is measured, and possible solutions to this issue.