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Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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.”
J. K. Dickens, F. G. Perey
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 36 | Number 3 | June 1969 | Pages 280-290
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE69-A18725
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
We have obtained gamma-ray spectra for the reactions 14N(n, n′γ)14N, 14N(n,þγ)14C, and 14N(n, αγ)11B for incident mean neutron energies En = 5.8, 6.4, 6.8, 7.4, 8.0, and 8.6 MeV. The gamma rays were detected using a coaxial Ge(Li) detector of 30 cm3 active volume. The detector was placed at 55 and 90° with respect to the incident neutron direction, and was 77 cm from the sample; time-of-flight was used with the gamma-ray detector to discriminate against pulses due to neutrons and background gamma radiation. The sample was 100 g of Be3N2 in the form of a right circular cylinder. Data were also obtained using a 75-g Be sample to provide an estimate of the background. The incident neutron beam was produced by bombarding a deuterium-filled gas cell with the pulsed deuteron beam of appropriate energy from the ORNL 6-MV Van de Graaff. The resulting neutron beam was monitored using a scintillation counter; a time-of-flight spectrum from this detector was recorded simultaneously with the gamma-ray data. These data have been studied to obtain absolute cross sections for production of gamma rays from 14N for the incident neutron energies quoted above. The cross sections have been compared, where possible, with previously measured values with good agreement. However, there are several important differences with previous data and these are discussed. In particular, summing the partial cross sections yields a value for the total nonelastic cross section that is approximately half of the total nonelastic cross section obtained from the difference between the total cross section and the total elastic cross section.