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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.”
K. Hasegawa, H. Fusumae, M. Matsuyama, K. Watanabe
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 21 | Number 2 | March 1992 | Pages 500-505
Safety; Measurement and Accountability; Operation and Maintenance; Application | doi.org/10.13182/FST92-A29796
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The kinetics of the UV-stimulated HT oxidation in oxygen atmosphere was studied in combination with computer simulation consisting of 30 elementary reactions. The rate of HTO formation was observed to be proportional to the pressure of O2 and molar fraction of HT with respect to total hydrogen pressure (H2 + HT), and 1/2 order to total hydrogen pressure. The simulation resulted in the same pressure dependence as the observed one. The contributions of elementary reactions to the HTO formation were calculated, assuming steady states for intermediate species. It was revealed that the UV-stimulated HT oxidation is initiated by photolysis of O2 to O(3P) (λ < 242 nm) and subsequently formed O3 and OH play important roles in the HTO formation. The present results suggest that the conversion of tritium gas to tritiated water is considerably enhanced in the stratosphere owing to the presence of UV photons having shorter wavelengths than 242 nm.
