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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.”
A. I. Ryazanov, V. S. Koidan, B. I. Khripunov, S. T. Latushkin, V. B. Petrov, L. S. Danelyan, E. V. Semenov, V. N. Unezhev
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 61 | Number 2 | February 2012 | Pages 107-117
Technical Paper | First Joint ITER-IAEA Technical Meeting on Analysis of ITER Materials and Technologies | doi.org/10.13182/FST12-A13375
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper presents a summary of scientific results obtained during the last few years in the National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute" (NRC KI). The main aims of this research are the development of a new experimental method that can be applied for the investigation of the influence of a high level of radiation damage on the plasma erosion effects of irradiated materials (graphite materials and tungsten) at different temperatures and the investigation of hydrogen isotope accumulation in these materials relevant to fusion reactor conditions (in ITER).A high level of radiation damage in these materials (0.1 to 10 displacements per atom) was achieved by irradiating them with fast charged particles at the NRC KI cyclotron, simulating fast neutron irradiation in a fusion reactor. The plasma erosion effects in irradiated and nonirradiated materials were compared using the linear plasma simulator LENTA at NRC KI.The performed investigations have shown that the erosion factor of irradiated graphite materials is increased and the tungsten surface structure is changed due to the accumulation of radiation damage. No influence of irradiation on tungsten erosion rate was observed in these experimental tests. The accumulation of hydrogen isotopes and helium concentrations were measured in the irradiated tungsten.The performed work and the obtained results suggest a new promising experimental method for the experimental investigation of plasma effects on fusion structural materials at different irradiation temperatures and different radiation damage levels.
