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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.”
Kenneth E. Hamilton, Stephan A. Letts, Steven R. Buckley, Evelyn M. Fearon, Gerald Wilemski, Robert C. Cook, Diana Schroen-Carey
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 31 | Number 4 | July 1997 | Pages 391-401
Technical Paper | Eleventh Target Fabrication Specialists' Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST97-A30791
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Polymer shells up to 2 mm in diameter were prepared using an interfacial polycondensation / cross-linking reaction occurring at the surface of an oil drop. The oil phase is comprised of a solution (20 wt% or less) of isophthaloyl dichloride (IPC) dissolved in an organic solvent. An interfacial reaction is initiated when the IPC-loaded oil drop is submerged in an aqueous solution of poly(p-vinylphenol) (PVP), a poly(electrolyte) at elevated pH. Composition, structure, and surface finish for fully-formed dry shells were assessed using a number of techniques including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), pyrolysis-gas chromatography (GC) - mass spectroscopy (MS), microhardness measurements, gas permeability, and solvent permeability measurements. From deposition rate data, a reaction mechanism and key reaction parameters were identified. The deposition rate of shell membrane material was found to be a diffusion limited reaction of IPC through the forming membrane to the exterior shell interface (which is believed to be the reaction front). The final thickness of the film deposited at the interface and the rate of deposition were found to be strong functions of the IPC concentration and oil phase solvent. Films made with diethyl phthalate (DEP) were thinner and harder than films made using 1,6-dichlorohexane (DCH) as a solvent. Differences in solubility of the forming membrane in DCH and DEP appear to be able to account for the differences in deposition rate and the hardness (related to cross-linking density). The deposition can be thought of as a phase separation which is affected by both the poly(electrolyte) / ionomer transition and the amount of cross-linking. Finally, it was found that the choice of oil phase solvent profoundly affects the evolution of the outer surface roughness.