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ANS Student Conference 2025
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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.”
Michitsugu Mori
Nuclear Technology | Volume 121 | Number 3 | March 1998 | Pages 245-259
Technical Paper | RETRAN | doi.org/10.13182/NT98-A2837
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Verification and validation analyses of the RETRAN-03 code have been conducted by simulating the startup tests of a BWR-5 plant with the measured data from the 1100-MW(electric) boiling water reactor (BWR) of Tokyo Electric Power Company's nuclear power station. The comparison of results calculated by RETRAN-03 to BWR-5 measured data shows good agreement in tests changing reactor pressure and water-level setpoints and in primary-loop-recirculation (PLR) pump trip, main steam isolation valve (MSIV) closure, and generator load rejection tests. The calculated water level behavior could be well tracked with BWR-5 data. The effect of initial mixed-water level in a separator on the prediction of reactor water level was examined. Sensitivity analyses for the four- and the five-equation models were performed for a one-PLR-pump trip test, an all-MSIV closure test, and a generator load rejection test with 100% bypass. Such mild transients as startup tests show no distinct difference between the four- and the five-equation models. The various kinds of simulation with the start-up phase tests in changing pressure, water level, and power by transient could verify the RETRAN-03 model and validate the code.
