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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.”
Kimberly A. DeFriend, Brent F. Espinoza, Arthur Nobile, Jr., Kenneth V. Salazar, Robert D. Day, Norman E. Elliott, Timothy H. Pierce, Joyce E. Elliott, Derek W. Schmidt, Frank Fierro, David Sandoval, Jeff Griego, Adelaida C. Valdez, Michael Droege
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 49 | Number 4 | May 2006 | Pages 701-706
Technical Paper | Target Fabrication | doi.org/10.13182/FST06-A1189
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) energy hohlraums are composed of a high-Z material filled with foam. Because of the small pore size and transparency, silica aerogels are used in some ICF targets. The traditional synthesis of silica aerogels require sol-gel polymerization of silicon alkoxide followed by supercritical drying. Some constituents in sol-gel polymerization have been found to contribute to leaching of certain metals at the silica/metal interface. Since the hohlraums are composed of metals, possible chemical reactivity at the silica aerogel and metal hohlraum interface was investigated. The hohlraums studied are aluminum lined with either copper or copper/chromium. Upon initial inspection, the aerogel appeared transparent and uniform, however, closer inspection of the copper wall suggested possible leaching. Alternatively the quality of the aerogel in the copper-chromium hohlraum was very poor with the chromium layer of the hohlraum and some copper completely etched. Control experiments were used to determine the cause of the leaching. When copper is in the presence of sol-gel constituents, Cu2+ ion formed, thus leaching copper from the hohlraum walls. In the presence of chromium, Cr2O72- or CrO42- was identified in solution with the Cu2+, these anions are believed to form copper chromite under the aerogel synthesis procedures utilized.