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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.”
Jan S. Brzosko, B. V. Robouch, Joanna Klobukowska
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 12 | Number 1 | July 1987 | Pages 71-91
Technical Paper | Experimental Device | doi.org/10.13182/FST87-A25052
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Experiments were carried out in the neutronoptimized mode of the plasma focus operation with small electrode diameters and condenser bank energies of 250, 390, and 490 kJ. The time sequence of the emitted radiation (neutron and gamma) was realized by the time-of-flight (TOF) method using an NE-102A plastic scintillator and silicon detectors viewing X rays from the plasma exclusively. The detectors were operated in the wide-energy window mode. Special attention was given to the interpretation of neutron TOF traces and their comparison with the absorption analysis and previously measured spectra by nuclear plates. The usefulness of gamma rays emitted by (n, n′γ) processes in electrodes is shown to be a precise indicator of the time evolution of the neutron emissivity. These conclusions are based on many shots that were statistically analyzed. Average values are discussed simultaneously with the results of representative single shots. It was found that two (sometimes more) neutron bursts are typical and, in each case, are accompanied by simultaneous hard X rays. The maxima of emissivities coincide with the dI/dt maximum. A theoretical analysis of the results reveals the existence of long time-confined streams of fast electrons and deuterons (effective energy ∼80 keV) with evidence of their slowing down.