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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.
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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.”
Scott D. Ramsey, Roy A. Axford
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 166 | Number 1 | September 2010 | Pages 48-57
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE09-64
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
We implement direct and approximate local sensitivity analysis techniques within the context of stochastic point kinetics neglecting delayed neutrons and external neutron sources. After reviewing the derivation of certain probabilities that the neutron population in a nuclear assembly is exactly zero [probabilities of extinction (POEs)], we consider their dependence on physical data. We subsequently focus on fission number distribution dependence and draw comparisons between two different data sets. As various POEs are dependent upon these data through the solution of a nonlinear ordinary differential equation, local sensitivity analysis provides a useful means through which to assess the effects of data reevaluation. We first conduct this analysis generally (though approximately) using Gâteaux-derivative methodology. Following the generalized developments, exact and approximate results for 235U are presented with a discussion concerning important consequences related to criticality safety.
