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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.”
Yasushi Yamamoto, Kiyoshi Yoshikawa, Hisayuki Toku, Tsuneyuki Haga
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 17 | Number 4 | July 1990 | Pages 540-554
Technical Paper | Beam Direct Conversion | doi.org/10.13182/FST90-A29190
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Experiments and simulations were performed for helium ion beams to confirm the general validity of the two-dimensional beam direct energy conversion simulation code KUAD (Kyoto University Advanced Dart) for a wide range of beam parameters and to better understand how the performance of beam direct energy recovery is dependent on beam parameters. The experiments compared currents in the 60- to 140-mA range for 15-keV beam energy and from 130 to 250 mA for 20-keV beam energy. Beam behaviors numerically predicted for different currents and collector potentials were verified. Numerically obtained performance characteristics of the beam direct energy recovery generally show excellent agreement with experimental results within experimental errors. The only discrepancy occurs in the vicinity of the collector potential corresponding to the maximum energy recovery due to possible deviation from the axisymmetry of electrodes and to their small misalignment with respect to the beam axis. Beam perveance rather than beam energy or current is a good parameter for the evaluation of the performance of beam direct energy recovery. Maximum energy recovery efficiencies of 87 ± 4% for 15-keV and 85 ± 4% for 20-keV beams have been achieved.
