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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.”
M.E. Sawan, R.R. Peterson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 39 | Number 2 | March 2001 | Pages 834-838
Chamber Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST01-A11963343
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Linked neutronics and hydrodynamics calculations have been performed for X-1 targets using the radiation hydrodynamics computer code BUCKY and the neutronics code ONEDANT. Target neutronics calculations were performed taking into account the varying configuration during the burn as well as the distributed material densities and fusion neutron source profile. The energy spectrum of neutrons emitted from the target varies during the bum with a softer spectrum produced in early time intervals. Neutrons emitted from the target carry 69.22% of the fusion energy with 28.3% carried by the x-rays and debris. A small fraction of 0.03% is carried by gamma photons and 2.45% is lost in endoergic reactions. Full coupling of the neutronics and hydrodynamics calculations is essential for making consistent predictions of the partitioning of the target energy between x-rays, ion debris, neutrons, and gamma photons and an accurate estimate of the net target yield by accurately accounting for the endoergic energy losses and energy deposited by neutrons.