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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.”
John N. Harb, William G. Pitt, H. Dennis Tolley
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 18 | Number 4 | December 1990 | Pages 669-677
Technical Notes on Cold Fusion | doi.org/10.13182/FST90-A29261
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Experiments are conducted to examine neutron emissions associated with electrolysis of 3 M LiOD in heavy water with a palladium electrode. The data show evidence of an increase in the number of neutrons detected during heavy water electrolysis relative to light water background experiments. No anomalous heat, tritium, or helium is detected. A rigorous statistical analysis is used to describe the distribution of both the neutron burst size and burst rate, each of which is characterized by a single parameter. The background neutron emission can be characterized by a burst size of 2 and a burst rate of 0.123 s−1, although some variability is observed. Analysis establishes the statistical significance of increased neutron emission during foreground (heavy water) runs, even when background variability is taken into account. In one case, the neutron emission is characterized by large but infrequent bursts. In the other case, only the burst rate increases to 0.203 s−1. Although the data are limited, the need for careful statistical analysis and the importance of experimental design are shown.