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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.”
K. Kizu, H. Hiratsuka, Y. Miyo, H. Ichige, T. Sasajima, T. Nishiyama, K. Masaki, M. Honda, N. Miya, N. Hosogane
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 42 | Number 2 | September-November 2002 | Pages 396-409
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST02-A236
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Designs and operations of the gas system and pellet injection systems for JT-60 and JT-60U are described. A gas injection valve that is a key component of the gas injection system was developed using a multilayer piezoelectric element. The maximum flow rate of this system is 43.3 Pam3/s. The valve has mechanism for adjustment at atmospheric side meaning that a repair and an adjustment can be conducted without ventilation inside a vacuum vessel. It was confirmed that the effect of magnetic field and temperature change on the valves in the JT-60U environment was negligible.In JT-60U, two systems of pellet injector - a pneumatic drive and a centrifugal one - were developed. The pneumatic type attained a pellet velocity of 2.3 km/s, which was the world record at the time in 1988. On the other hand, the centrifugal one was developed in 1998. This injector can eject trains of up to 40 cubic (2.1 mm3) pellets at frequencies of 1 to 10 Hz and speed of 0.1 to 1.0 km/s. A guide tube for a magnetic high field side injection (HFS) (top) was also developed in 1999. The pellet injection experiment with the HFS system started in 2000. In addition, another guide tube for HFS(mid) injection was newly developed and installed in March 2001. These systems are working well.
