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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.”
R. T. Santoro, N. A. Uckan, R. J. Schmitt
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 8 | Number 1 | July 1985 | Pages 1659-1663
Magnet Engineering | Proceedings of the Sixth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (San Francisco, California, March 3-7, 1985) | doi.org/10.13182/FST85-A39998
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Calculations have been carried out to determine the vacuum magnetic parameters, forces, and the use of trim coils in an ELMO Bumpy Square. A configuration having five mirror coils per side and an eight-coil high-field toroidal solenoid corner assembly was studied. Favorable magnetic parameters are achieved in the device. An on-axis mirror ratio of 1.9, a global mirror ratio of 3.6, and excellent centering of plasma pressure contours are achieved. Particle losses are also minimal (<5%). The magnetic forces acting between coils are comparable with those encountered in the EBT-I/S magnet configuration. Circular trim coils were found to be suitable for restoring hot electron ring locations that are displaced when the coil currents are varied for performing magnetic studies or for assessing the effects on the EBS of the global mirror ratio.
