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 Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
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.”
R. McEachern, C. Alford, R. Cook, D. Makowiecki, R. Wallace
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 31 | Number 4 | July 1997 | Pages 435-441
Technical Paper | Eleventh Target Fabrication Specialists' Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST97-A30798
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
We have performed a series of preliminary experiments to determine whether sputter deposition of doped Be is a practical route to producing NIF target capsules with Be ablators. Films ranging in thickness from 7 to ∼120 µm have been deposited on spherical polymer mandrels using a bounce pan to ensure uniform coating. With no voltage bias applied to the pan, relatively porous coatings were formed that were highly permeable to hydrogen. The surface finish of these films ranged from ∼250 nm rms for 13-µm-thick films to a minimum of ∼75 nm rms for an 80-µm-thick film. Application of a voltage bias was found to significantly modify the film morphology. At a bias of 120 V, 7-µm-thick films with a dense, fine-grained microstructure were produced. These capsules had a reflective surface with a 50 nm rms roughness. Finally, to demonstrate the ability to produce a graded dopant profile, a coating was produced in which the concentration of added Cu was varied from 2.5 atom % at the beginning to zero after 40 µm of deposition.