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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.”
Wayne R. Meier
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 3 | Number 3 | May 1983 | Pages 385-391
Technical Paper | Blanket Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A20862
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Monte Carlo neutronics calculations have been carried out to compare the effects of chamber ports on the neutron leakage and blanket performance for lithium and lead-lithium blankets. A spherical chamber with diametrically opposed, conical penetrations through the blanket and a 14.1-MeV point source at its center is the basis for the comparison. The total neutron leakage through ports in a lithium blanket is about two times greater than one would estimate based on the solid angle fraction subtended by the holes. For a blanket comprised primarily of the lead-lithium eutectic, Pb83Li17, the leakage per deuterium-tritium neutron is about six times the subtended solid angle fraction. As a result of the enhanced neutron leakage, the tritium-breeding ratio and neutron energy deposited in the blanket decrease more rapidly than the loss of blanket coverage. For example, for a chamber in which the ports subtend 5% of the total solid angle, the tritium-breeding ratios are ∼s and ∼20% less than the results without ports for the lithium and Pb83Li17 blankets, respectively. The neutron energy deposited in the blanket decreases ∼7% for lithium and ∼14% for Pb83Li17 for the same 5% loss in blanket coverage.