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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.”
Yung Sung Cheng, Yue Zhou, Charles A. Gentile, Charles H. Skinner
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 41 | Number 3 | May 2002 | Pages 867-871
Material Interaction and Permeation | Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Tritium Science and Technology Tsukuba, Japan November 12-16, 2001 | doi.org/10.13182/FST02-A22708
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Amorphous tritiated carbon films are formed through co-deposition of the radioactive isotope tritium (3H or T) with carbon onto plasma facing surfaces in fusion plasmas. The Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR), operated by the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, was fueled by tritium and deuterium neutral beam injection and gas puffing. Tritium was co-deposited as amorphous hydrogenated carbon onto graphite tiles and stainless steel surfaces inside the reactor. Since termination of plasma operations, carbon tritide particles have remained in the air in the vessel. Dosimetric limits for occupational exposure to carbon tritide particles need to be established. The purpose of this study was to characterize carbon tritide particle samples inside the TFTR in terms of size, self-absorption of tritium beta, and dissolution rate in simulated lung fluid. Dose estimates of the inhaled carbon tritide particles can be calculated based on the dissolution rate, particle size, and self-absorption factor. The count median diameter and geometric standard deviation were 1.23 µm and 1.72, respectively, indicating that they are respirable particles and can stay suspended in the air for a longer time. The dissolution rate in the lung-simulated fluid was determined in a static system. The dissolution rate ranged from 10−1–10−3 per day in the first few hours, then it decreased to between 10−3 and 10−4. The retention curve of tritium in carbon indicated that >90% of the tritium remained in the particles after 110 d in the simulated lung fluid. This information is being used to support the establishment of respiratory protection requirements.