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The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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.”
Neil B. Morley, Albert Medina, Mohamed A. Abdou
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 56 | Number 1 | July 2009 | Pages 195-200
Tritium, Safety, and Environment | Eighteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Part 1) | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A8901
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Silicon Carbide (SiC) has been proposed as a possible candidate material for flow channel inserts for the dual coolant blanket concept. Here, the total electrical resistance of disks of high purity CVD SiC were measured with liquid lead-lithium eutectic (LLE) alloy melts serving as electrodes. From this data, the relative contributions of intrinsic resistivity and surface contact resistance as a function of measurement temperature was deduced. It was shown that after a relatively short period of exposure, once wetting at the interface was achieved, that contact resistance at the SiC/LLE interface was not significant. The contact resistance during initial exposure did not behave in a repeatable consistent way and appears to be affected by small variations in sample preparation. For modeling purposes, the electrical properties of an FCI can be based on the intrinsic electrical conductivity of the material and the dimensions. However, longer term operations and effects of impurities still need to be addressed.