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Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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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.”
Insoo Jim, Mohamed Abdou
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 21 | Number 3 | May 1992 | Pages 2159-2168
Blanket Shield and Neutronic | doi.org/10.13182/FST92-A30040
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Activation analysis for the cavity of the PROMETHEUS ICF design, which uses a wetted first wall protection scheme, has been performed. It has been found that the PROMETHEUS cavity produces about 0.9 Ci/W of thermal power at shutdown after the full 30 years operation, which is about the same amount of radioactivity of other ICF and MCF fusion designs with low activation materials. It was possible, however, to reduce the radioactivity inventory level in the shield by one to three orders of magnitude by introducing a new shield design that uses B4C, Pb, SiC and water instead of using the conventional concrete shield. Furthermore, the effect of using the spherical and cylindrical modeling on the prediction of radioactivity in the first wall has been studied. It has been found that the cylindrical model with a point neutron source at the center of the cylinder reduces the radioactivity of the short half-life products to about 80% of the values that would be obtained by using purely spherical modeling. Finally, the 210Po problem associated with the use of lead has been analyzed. It is shown that 210Po produced from neutron interactions with lead is more important than that produced from the bismuth impurity (40ppm) existing in lead if the machine is operated over ∼1 year.
