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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.”
K. Takahashi, T. Imai, N. Kobayashi, K. Sakamoto, A. Kasugai, A. Hayakawa, S. Mori, K. Mohri
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 1 | January 2005 | Pages 1-15
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A594
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The performance of a front steering (FS)-type electron cyclotron launcher designed for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is evaluated with a thermal, electromagnetic, and nuclear analysis of the components; a mechanical test of a spiral tube for the steering mirror; and a rotational test of bearings. The launcher consists of a front shield and a launcher plug where three movable optic mirrors to steer incident multimegawatt radio-frequency beam power, waveguide components, nuclear shields, and vacuum windows are installed. The windows are located behind a closure plate to isolate the transmission lines from the radioactivated circumstance (vacuum vessel). The waveguide lines of the launcher are doglegged to reduce the direct neutron streaming toward the vacuum windows and other components. The maximum stresses on the critical components such as the steering mirror, its cooling tube, and the front shield are less than their allowable stresses. It was also identified that the stress on the launcher, which yielded from electromagnetic force caused by plasma disruption, was a little larger than the criteria, and a modification of the launcher plug structure was necessary. The nuclear analysis result shows that the neutron shield capability of the launcher satisfies the shield criteria of the ITER. It concludes that the design of the FS launcher is generally suitable for application to the ITER.