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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.”
Y. Danon, M. S. Moore, P. E. Koehler, P. E. Littleton, G. G. Miller, M. A. Ott, L. J. Rowton, W. A. Taylor, J. B. Wilhelmy, M. A. Yates, A. D. Carlson, R. Harper, R. Hilko
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 124 | Number 3 | November 1996 | Pages 482-491
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE96-A17926
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Transmutation of actinide waste into fission products could be enhanced by using resonance fission of odd-odd target materials; those of interest are 232Pa, 238Np, and 242Am. Fission cross-section measurements of two of these short-lived materials were performed at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Samples were produced by the (d,2n) reaction in the Los Alamos Ion Beam Facility followed by fast radiochemistry to separate the odd-odd target of interest. The fission cross section of the nanogram samples was measured in a high intensity pulsed neutron beam produced by 800-MeVproton spallation. Using this procedure, the fission cross sections of the 1.3-day 232Pa and 2.1-day 238Np were successfully measured in the energy range from 0.01 eV to 50 keV. The fission cross section of the relatively long-life isotope 2S6Np was also measured in the same system while the short half-life isotopes were being prepared. The results and resonance analysis are presented.