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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.”
Thomas K. S. Liang, Huan-Jen Hung, Chin-Jang Chang
Nuclear Technology | Volume 136 | Number 3 | December 2001 | Pages 292-300
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT01-A3246
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
With the consideration of mass unbalance, coolant shrinking, and compressibility, a model for reactor coolant leakage evaluation has been developed to quantify on-line the system leakage rate with conventional system measurements, regardless of where the leak occurs. This model has been derived from the system of total continuity, and it divides the reactor coolant system (RCS) into two regions, namely, the saturated and subcooled regions. The pressurizer is considered as a saturated region, and the remaining part of the RCS is regarded as a subcooled region. Taking the on-line measurements of the RCS including the RCS pressure, temperature, pressurizer water level, and charging and letdown flow rates, this model can directly evaluate on-line the RCS leakage rate. It is noted that this model is applicable only if the RCS remains subcooled. To verify the applicability of this model, data generated by RELAP5/MOD3 simulation and experimental measurements from the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Taiwan, Integral System Test Facility were adopted to assess this model. With further on-line verification against the Maanshan training simulator, this model was finally delivered to the Maanshan nuclear power plant (a three-looped Westinghouse pressurized water reactor) to assist the operator training and on-line evaluation of the RCS leakage rate. The smallest amount of leak flow that can be detected by the ROCK model is 3 gal/min.