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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.”
Luis Hernandez-Adame, Hector Contreras-Sandoval, Hector Rene Vega-Carrillo, Leonel Humberto Perez Landeros
Nuclear Technology | Volume 175 | Number 1 | July 2011 | Pages 105-112
Technical Paper | Special Issue on the 16th Biennial Topical Meeting of the Radiation Protection and Shielding Division / Accelerators | doi.org/10.13182/NT11-A12277
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This work studies the design of the treatment room for an 18-MV linac to ensure radiation protection and safety of hospital staff and patients. The walls' thickness, the door, and the maze were designed according to the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements Report 151 recommendations. The results of this work are contrasted with the Monte Carlo calculations performed with the MCNP5 code where dose equivalents due to neutrons and neutron spectra estimated at different points inside and outside the radiotherapy room verify that the shielding thicknesses obtained are enough to reduce the dose level permitted by Mexican regulation.