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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.”
D. Donovan, D. Buchenauer, J. Whaley, G. Wright, C. M. Parish, X. Hu
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 72 | Number 3 | October 2017 | Pages 337-346
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1333856
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A compact electron cyclotron resonance plasma source has been utilized at Sandia National Laboratory to expose heated W samples (1270 K) to 50–75 eV He ions at fluxes on the order of 1019 m−2 s−1 and fluences on the order of 1024 m−2. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis of the surface has indicated bubbles up to 150 nm in diameter that exhibit signs of bursting near the surface. Comparisons have been made between W samples prepared from warm-rolled W sheet stock and ITER-Grade W rod stock. Focused ion beam (FIB) cross sectioning has been used with SEM and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to identify large sub surface bubbles (100 nm diameter) at depths up to one micron as well as a dense layer of smaller bubbles (<10 nm diameter) within the first 100 nm of the surface, similar to bubble layers observed on higher flux experiments. SEM-Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) analysis has identified a unique surface morphology feature associated with the exposed ITER-Grade W as well as features similar to previous EBSD studies of rolled W stock. Thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) analysis has identified that pre-existing He bubbles found in the Sandia He-ion exposed samples do alter the D trapping and desorbing behavior in W. The findings from these preliminary characterization studies are presented and discussed in context with results from similar plasma exposure stages at other facilities around the world.