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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.”
J. E. Till, E. S. Bomar, L. E. Morse, V. J. Tennery
Nuclear Technology | Volume 37 | Number 3 | March 1978 | Pages 328-339
Technical paper | Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT78-A31998
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A radiological assessment was performed for a reprocessing plant handling advanced liquid-metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) fuels, and the results were compared with those for reference oxide fuel. Candidate advanced fuels analyzed included l(U,Pu)Cl and f(U,Pu)Nj with selected concentrations of i5N. Core neutronics and designs appropriate to advanced-fueled LMFBRs were used with the ORIGEN computer code to calculate compositions of spent core and blanket fuel equivalent to 50 GW-yr of electrical energy generation. Confinement factors, specific to each radionuclide released to the atmosphere at the reprocessing plant, were used to calculate source terms describing the emission of radionuclides. Radiological impact within a 80-km radius of the facility was determined with the AIRDOS-II computer code, while the dose to the world population from 14C released at the reprocessing plant was estimated with a multicompartment global carbon cycling model. For carbide fuel, the calculated dose commitment to the total body of the maximally exposed individual was ∼2.8 mrem. Corresponding dose commitments when nitride fuels were substituted ranged between 59 and 3.4 mrem, as the 14N content in fuel was varied from 99.64%, the natural abundance of 14N, to zero (i.e., 100% enrichment with 15N), respectively. Dose commitment to the world population from l4C produced in nitride fuel made with natural nitrogen may prohibit use of this fuel from an environmental standpoint. However, a combination of ,SN enrichment in the fuel and confinement of at least part of the 14C at the reprocessing plant can significantly reduce both the amount of 14C ultimately released to the atmosphere and the global impact from 14C. It was concluded that no major differences exist in the radiological impact when carbide fuel is substituted for oxide fuel at the reprocessing plant. The use of nitride fuel may, however, require substantial enrichment with 15N or significant improvement in effluent treatment techniques proposed for 14 C retention.
