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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.”
J. D. Simpson, J. K. Hoffer, L. R. Foreman
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 21 | Number 2 | March 1992 | Pages 330-333
Safety; Measurement and Accountability; Operation and Maintenance; Application | doi.org/10.13182/FST92-A29766
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
We have examined two of the variables that affect the beta-layering process in which nonuniform layers of solid deuterium-tritium (DT) are driven toward uniformity by beta-decay induced sublimation. For these experiments, a 9 mm diameter polycarbonate sphere was partially filled with a 50-50 mix of DT liquid, frozen, and then held at 17 K. We measured the equilibration time constant τ as functions of solid layer thickness, 4He exchange gas pressure, and age. Solid layer thicknesses ranged from 200 µm to 650 µm, exchange gas pressures from 0 to 600 torr, and age from 0 to 104 days. Results show a significant final solid layer anisotropy with exchange gas pressures above 5 torr, and τ values that increased with age by 0.01 min/day for 200 µm-thick layers, and by 0.5 min/day for 650 µm-thick layers. The time constant is shown to be a weak function of exchange gas pressure.