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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.”
J.P. Smith, C. Baxi, E. Reis, L. Sevier
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 21 | Number 3 | May 1992 | Pages 1658-1661
Plasma Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST92-A29959
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A cryocondensation pump was designed for the baffle chamber of General Atomics DIII-D tokamak and will be installed in the fall of 1992. The purpose of the pump is to study plasma density control by pumping of the divertor. The pump is toroidally continuous, approximately 10 m long and located in the lower outer corner of the vacuum chamber of the machine. It consists of a 1 m2 liquid helium-cooled surface surrounded by a liquid nitrogen-cooled shield to limit the heat load on the helium-cooled surface. The liquid nitrogen-cooled surface is surrounded by a radiation/particle shield to prevent energetic particles from impacting and releasing condensed water molecules. A thermal enhancement coating was applied to the nitrogen shell to lower the maximum temperature of the shell. The coating is non-continuous to keep the toroidal electrical resistance high. The whole pump is supported off the water-cooled vacuum vessel wall. Supports for the pump were designed to accommodate the thermal differences between the 4K helium surface, the 77 K nitrogen shells, and the 300 K vacuum vessel supporting the pump and to provide a low heat leak structural support. Disruption loading on the pump was analyzed and a finite element structural analysis of the pump was completed. A testing program was completed to evaluate coating techniques to enhance heat transfer and emissivity of the various surfaces. Fabrication tests were performed to determine the best method of attaching the liquid nitrogen flow tubes to their shield surfaces and to determine the best alternative to fabricating the different shells of the pump. A prototype sector of the pump was built to verify fabrication and assembly techniques.