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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.”
Jiyun Zhao, Hee Cheon No, Mujid S. Kazimi
Nuclear Technology | Volume 146 | Number 2 | May 2004 | Pages 164-180
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT04-A3496
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Annular fuel with internal flow is proposed to allow higher power density in pressurized water reactors. The structural behavior issues arising from the higher flow rate required to cool the fuel are assessed here, including buckling, vibrations, and potential wear problems. Five flow-induced vibration mechanisms are addressed: buckling instability, vortex-induced vibration, acoustic resonance, fluid-elastic instability, and turbulence-induced vibration. The structural behavior of the 17 × 17 traditional solid fuel array is compared with that of two types of annular fuels, a 15 × 15 array, and a 13 × 13 array.It is seen that the annular fuels are superior to the reference fuel in avoiding vibration-induced damage, even at a 50% increase in flow velocity above today's reactors. The higher resistance to vibration is mainly due to their relatively larger cross section area making them more rigid. The 13 × 13 annular fuel shows better structural performance than the 15 × 15 one due to its higher rigidity. Analysis of acoustic resonance of the inner channel cladding with pump blade passing frequencies showed that the acoustic frequencies are within 120% of the pulsation frequency. The annular fuel exhibits reduced impact, sliding, and fretting wear than the solid fuel, even at 150% flow rate of today's reactors.