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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.”
Benjamin V. Robouch, Vadim I. Volosov, Aleksandr A. Ivanov, Yurii A. Tsidulko, Yurii N. Zouev, Luigi Ingrosso, Jan S. Brzosko
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 41 | Number 1 | January 2002 | Pages 44-52
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST02-A199
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A summarized update of neutronic studies on the Novosibirsk Gas Dynamic Trap (GDT) fusion material irradiation facility (FMIF) is presented. The GDT-FMIF neutron source project is based on a mirror-type machine designed to produce 1018 D-T neutrons/s over 10 yr (3 × 1026 neutrons). The proposed massive shielding, susceptible to further shield reductions and optimization, ensures proper shielding against radiation and/or heat overdeposition in accordance with project tolerances. The present shield configuration allows 3.3 m3 of irradiation space around the plasma column: 0.06 m3 receives 0.3 × 1014 thermonuclear uncollided 14-MeV nDT-neutrons/cm2s (0.5 MW/m2), and 0.7 × 1014 with collision degraded energies (~0.7 MW/m2 total), over 7 of the 8 m of intense flux axial length, the largest nontokamak availability. This allows the irradiation of large (up to 4.5 m long) life-size components (such as welds). The delivered neutron flux relative-gradients are small (< 6.3%/cm). Simulations use the 3DAMC-VINIA Monte Carlo code in its expanded version (drizzle-shower technique, two-step cascade, etc.), ENDF/B6 and EPDL nuclear data files, and a precise model of critical parts of the GDT. Results demonstrate that the GDT-FMIF is a very suitable irradiation test facility as per International Energy Agency specifications for an FMIF. With its 37.5-cm free depth of test space, GDT is the only dedicated facility suitable for a life-size blanket-tritium-breeding/extraction benchmark at a significant neutron flux level (2 MW/m2).