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
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.
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.”
Dominic J. Raso
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 17 | Number 3 | November 1963 | Pages 411-418
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE63-A17390
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Abstract-Monte Carlo calculations were performed to determine the backscattering from and transmission through concrete of 0.2, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, 6.0, and 10.0 Mev gamma rays. The radiation was assumed to be incident on a semi-infinite medium and on slab thicknesses of 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 mfp at angles of cos00 = 1.0, 0.75, 0.50, 0.25, and 0.10. The case histories of 5000 photons were followed on the IBM 704 digital computer for each of the 175 geometries (874,000 histories). The information obtained included: (1) The characteristics of emergent photons, which were stored on magnetic tape; (2) a routine that processes these characteristics to give polar and azimuthal angular dose distribution; and (3) detailed results from the application of the processing routine to the parameters investigated. The computer program, the processing routine, and the detailed results are given in ref. 1.