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Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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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.”
M. E. Rising, P. Talou, T. Kawano, A. K. Prinja
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 175 | Number 1 | September 2013 | Pages 81-93
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE12-34
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The prompt fission neutron spectra (PFNS) of the low-incident-energy neutron-induced fission reactions n + 229-238U and n + 235-242Pu have been systematically evaluated using differential experimental data and the Los Alamos model (LA model). Using the first-order, linear Kalman filter, the LA model parameters are constrained using the experimental data and an evaluation of the PFNS and its uncertainties across a suite of isotopes' results. Correlations between isotopes of each actinide are presented through the model parameter correlations, and the resulting evaluations can be used to fill in inconsistencies within the ENDF/B-VII.1 library where PFNS data are scarce or in need of an update.
