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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.”
E. Anselmi, J. Raby, A. Balland-Longeau
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 45 | Number 2 | March 2004 | Pages 157-164
Technical Paper | Target Fabrication | doi.org/10.13182/FST04-A443
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Inertial Confinement Fusion experiments are conducted in polymer capsule in which nuclear products are located. In order to vary optical properties, we need to develop polyimides with high mechanical properties in which we have to substitute all the hydrogen atoms by deuterium atoms. The best way to obtain deuterated polymer is to deuterate monomers instead of direct deuteration of polymers. In a first part, mechanical properties of aromatic polyimide films based on two dianhydrides (pyromellitic dianhydride PMDA and 3,3',4,4'-biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride BPDA) and two diamines (4,4'-oxydianiline ODA and pphenylenediamine PDA) have been described. The optimization of synthesis and fabrication parameters of polyimide films PMDA/ODA and BPDA/PDA having high inherent viscosity, so high molecular weight, have allowed us to obtain high mechanical properties. And in a second part, deuterated monomers have been synthesized via multi-steps organic reactions and/or under pressure conditions. We have investigated the preparation of deuterated poly(amic-acid) solutions in NMP and the preparation of the corresponding polyimides deuterated membranes. Results show that deuterium does not affect the reactivity of monomers to form the poly(amic-acid) solution.