ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy
The mission of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division (NNPD) is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology while simultaneously preventing the diversion and misuse of nuclear material and technology through appropriate safeguards and security, and promotion of nuclear nonproliferation policies. To achieve this mission, the objectives of the NNPD are to: Promote policy that discourages the proliferation of nuclear technology and material to inappropriate entities. Provide information to ANS members, the technical community at large, opinion leaders, and decision makers to improve their understanding of nuclear nonproliferation issues. Become a recognized technical resource on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and security issues. Serve as the integration and coordination body for nuclear nonproliferation activities for the ANS. Work cooperatively with other ANS divisions to achieve these objective nonproliferation policies.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
Standards Program
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
April 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.”
Shigeo Numata, Yasuhiko Fujii, Makoto Okamoto
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 26 | Number 3 | November 1994 | Pages 248-254
Technical Paper | Safety/Environmental Aspect | doi.org/10.13182/FST94-A30328
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The catalytic conversion of tritium gas (HT) to tritiated water (HTO) by cement materials is studied by using mortars made of ordinary Portland cement and Portland blast furnace slag cement exposed to HT at concentrations of 3 to 6 × 109 Bq/m3 in air. Within the experimental conditions, no significant difference in the conversion rate is found between the two types of cement. Extended experiments are carried out by using mortars made of ordinary Portland cement to evaluate the catalytic effect of cement materials. The experimental results are explained by a model that assumes that the conversion is dependent on the geometric surface area of the mortars. The mortar surface is found to play an important role in the conversion. The capacity coefficient in mass transfer on the mortar surface and its standard deviation are found to be (4.3 ± 1.4) × 10−11 m/s. The mechanism of the conversion reaction is uncertain in this study. The conversion rate of the catalytic effect by the cement materials is compared with the conversion rate by the radioactive decay of T2. The HTO produced by the conversion is retained in the pore water of the cement materials.
