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Division Spotlight
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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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.”
Satoshi Fukada, Shigenori Suemori
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 61 | Number 1 | January 2012 | Pages 441-445
Other Concepts and Assessments | Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Emerging Nuclear Energy Systems | doi.org/10.13182/FST12-A13460
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A system to utilize high-temperature nuclear heat effectively is proposed here. The system comprises a High-Temperature Gas-cooled nuclear Reactor (HTGR), reaction vessels to produce H2 using the steam-reforming reaction of CH4 or the Iodine-Sulfur (I-S) process, chemical heat pumps and He gas turbines. The chemical heat pumps are operated between the two decomposition temperatures of SO3 (~900°C) and HI (~500°C) of the I-S process. The pump system transfers heat from lower temperature to higher one with repeated H2 absorption-desorption cycles, and the overall thermal conversion ratio from H2O to H2 can be enhanced. The material candidate for H2 absorption in heat pump is considered TiH2 and ZrCoH3 (or UH3) according to the two reaction temperatures. The decomposition of the metal hydrides proceeds at their respective plateau pressures that are a function of temperature regardless of the H content in metals. Variations of the temperature and the equilibrium H2 pressure with repetitions of the heat-pump cycle are shown in the present paper comparatively. In addition, proton-conducting fuel cell system supplied with CH4 is incorporated in the high-temperature utilization system.