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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.”
John Sheffield, Donald A. Spong
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 70 | Number 1 | July 2016 | Pages 36-53
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST15-161
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The advantages of using the catalyzed deuterium-deuterium (D-D) approach for a fusion reactor—lower and less energetic neutron flux and no need for a tritium breeding blanket—have been evaluated in previous papers, giving examples of both tokamak and stellarator reactors. This paper presents an update for the stellarator example, taking account of more recent empirical transport scaling results and design studies of lower-aspect-ratio stellarators. We use a modified version of the Generic Magnetic Fusion Reactor model to cost a stellarator-type reactor. Recently, this model has been updated to reflect the improved science and technology base and costs in the magnetic fusion program. It is shown that an interesting catalyzed D-D, stellarator power plant might be possible if the following parameters could be achieved: R/<a> ≈ 4, required improvement factor to ISS04 scaling, FR = 0.9 to 1.15, <β> ≈ 8.0% to 11.5%, Zeff ≈ 1.45 plus a relativistic temperature correction, fraction of fast ions lost ≈ 0.07, Bm ≈ 14 to 16 T, and R ≈ 18 to 24 m.