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Fusion Science and Technology
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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.”
Hubert Pialot, David Demange, Brice Ravat, Manuel Grivet
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 41 | Number 3 | May 2002 | Pages 495-499
Analysis and Monitoring | Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Tritium Science and Technology Tsukuba, Japan November 12-16, 2001 | doi.org/10.13182/FST02-A22638
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper presents a method to quantify the tritium activity in a drum by measurement of its helium-3 leak. A model of helium exchanges with the atmosphere has been developed. It takes into account the diffusion phenomena and the influence of atmospheric pressure changes. The validation has been achieved with a pilot and the comparison between theoretical and experimental data has highlighted a very good agreement. Drum's helium-3 leak equilibrates after six months and then equals the helium-3 production in the drum and so to the total tritium activity. The measurement technique is also described. It's based on quantitative helium trace level determinations with an adapted leak detector. After a drum's confinement period of 5 hours and a cryogenic treatment of gaseous samples, the method allows to detect a 5 GBq activity of tritium in a drum.
