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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.”
J. Martin Taccetti, Thomas P. Intrator, Frederick J. Wysocki, Katherine C. Forman, Donald G. Gale, Sean K. Coffey, James H. Degnan
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 41 | Number 1 | January 2002 | Pages 13-23
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST02-A196
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Two experiments showing continuous, real-time measurements of the radial convergence of a high-aspect-ratio aluminum flux conserver are presented. These results were obtained by measuring the compression of both axial and radial components of an internal low-intensity magnetic field. Repeatable flux conserver compressions of this type, uniform to 10:1 compression ratio, form a step toward achieving magnetized target fusion, where a plasma of appropriate temperature and density would be introduced into the flux conserver for compression to fusion conditions. While X radiographs show this compression ratio was achieved, the magnetic field probe signals were cut off earlier. Axial component measurements resulted in compression ratios of 7:1 and 6.3:1, for the first and second compressions, before the magnetic probe signals were lost. Radial component measurements disagree with the axial probe results. Although the discrepancy between axial and radial probe measurements is not completely understood, possible explanations are presented.