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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.”
Renato Vinicius A. Marques, Marcia Saturnino, Felipe Martins, Carlos Eduardo Velasquez Cabrera, Claubia Pereira Bezerra Lima, Maria Auxiliadora Fortini Veloso, Antonella Lombardi Costa
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 76 | Number 2 | February 2020 | Pages 145-152
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1704594
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Lead-bismuth eutectic is used as a coolant for the fusion-fission hybrid system (FFS) based on a tokamak that enhances the transmutation of transuranic nuclides. However, this coolant does not produce enough tritium to supply the fusion reactions of the system. Therefore, the aim of this work is to evaluate the insertion of tritium breeder layers (TBLs) on the FFS to enhance tritium production. The analyzed materials for tritium production were beryllium, boron, and lithium alloys. The results indicate the most suitable material for tritium production depends on the TBL location. The results also indicate that there is a strong dependency on the position of the TBL affecting the neutronic parameters and nuclide transmutation such as criticality and fuel depletion. The reaction rates for tritium production and fuel composition after a fuel burnup were analyzed using the Monte Carlo N-Particle 5 (MCNP5) and MONTEBURNS codes.
