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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.”
Josef Schaefer, Detlev Stöver, Rudolf Hecker
Nuclear Technology | Volume 66 | Number 3 | September 1984 | Pages 537-549
F. Hydrogen and Tritium Permeation | Status of Metallic Materials Development for Application in Advanced High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor / Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT84-A33476
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The phenomenon of hydrogen permeation through high-temperature alloys has been recognized as an important problem in developing nuclear energy production systems. Investigations are concerned with experimental techniques and requirements to conform with the concept of practical development. After establishing the data of hydrogen permeation through bare alloys, efforts are directed toward investigating the permeation behavior of surface oxidized walls. In this way 12 alloy types are examined under various conditions. The reduced penetration occurring under “process gas” atmosphere is determined by the “impeding factor”: It is the ratio of permeation rates measured under special conditions in the case of bare alloy annealed in pure hydrogen and in the case of its oxidized surface. One influence on the permeation behavior is proceeding from the metallic substrate of oxide coating: Centricast and wrought types of alloys are effective in different ways. Varied treatment before coating was significant only in the case of annealing in hydrogen. Most influential is the temperature acting upon both the permeating and the coating quality in a compensating manner. Temperature cycling in oxidizing atmosphere points to improved impeding. The relationship between the oxidation potential and the impeding conditions is not yet clear. In the temperature range between 650 and 900°C, a square root behavior below ∼5-bar hydrogen pressure is dominant, whereas a linear pressure dependence was detected above. A crossover range is obvious, especially distinct at higher temperatures. The influence of chromium oxide in the corrosion cover is manifested by metallurgical postexamination results corresponding with permeation data of selected samples.