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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.”
Ali E. Dabiri
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 12 | Number 2 | September 1987 | Pages 238-248
Fusion Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/FST87-A11963782
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Systems studies have been performed to assess commercial tokamak options. Superconducting, as well as normal, magnet coils in either first or second stability regimes have been considered. A spherical torus (ST), as well as an elongated tokamak (ET), is included in this study. The cost of electricity (COE) is selected as the figure of merit, and beta and first-wall neutron wall loads are selected to represent the physics and technology characteristics of various options. The results indicate that an economical optimum for tokamaks requires a beta of ∼10% (achievable in the second stability regime) and a wall load of ∼5 MW/m2, which is assumed to be optimum technologically. This tokamak is expected to be competitive with fission plants if efficient, noninductive current drive is developed. However, if this regime cannot be attained, all other tokamaks operating in the first stability regime, including the ST and ET and assuming a limiting wall load of 5 MW/m2, will compete with each other with a COE of ∼50 mill/kW·h. This is 40% higher than the COE for the optimum reactor in the second stability regime with fast-wave current drive. The above conclusions pertain to a 1200-MW(electric) net electric power plant. A comparison was also made between ST, ET, and superconducting magnets in the second stability regime with fast-wave current drive at 600 MW(electric). The result indicates that the COE of an ET or ST device operating with the same technology requirement (wall load) as a superconducting magnet tokamak is about the same as the COE of a superconducting magnet tokamak in the second stability regime. Therefore, a device like ST or ET appears more attractive in ratings lower than 1200 MW(electric).