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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.”
L. Rodrigo, J.A. Sawicki, R.E. Johnson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 28 | Number 3 | October 1995 | Pages 1410-1415
Tritium Storage, Distribution, and Transportation | Proceedings of the Fifth Topical Meeting on Tritium Technology In Fission, Fusion, and Isotopic Applications Belgirate, Italy May 28-June 3, 1995 | doi.org/10.13182/FST95-A30609
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A postmortem analysis of samples of deactivated SAES St707 getter particles recovered from a glove box purification system was conducted to determine the cause for deactivation and eventual hydrogen capacity loss. Unused and used .getter samples were investigated by Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) and Mossbauer Transmission Spectroscopy (MTS) of 57Fe. Hydrogen absorption isotherms were measured to determine the extent of the hydrogen capacity loss, and the total impurity (0,N) loading levels were determined by vacuum fusion mass spectrometry. The effect of common gaseous impurities on the tritium-removal characteristics was investigated to determine the nature of impurity-getter interaction for different impurities. Hydrogen capacity loss observed in the purifier was found to be due to bulk nitriding, probably due to irreversible transformation of intermetallic Laves-phase Zr(Fe,V)2 to Zr4Fe2 (O,N)x. The temporary getter deactivation observed during operation of the purifier may have been caused by impurities such as CO, CO2 and volatile organics. Metallic Fe (considered to be responsible for dissociative chemisorption of H2) was found only on unused samples. A gradual loss of metallic Fe from the getter surface could also have contributed to getter deactivation.
