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
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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.”
D. J. Gorman
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 44 | Number 3 | June 1971 | Pages 277-290
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE71-A20161
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
It is generally agreed that lateral vibration of reactor fuel elements is random in nature and is caused by random pressure fluctuations acting on the element surface. A series of tests has been conducted in which a single test element has been subjected to two-phase parallel flow in a circular annulus. Statistical properties of the amplitude of vibration have been measured for various simulated steam qualities with fixed mass flow rate. Statistical properties of the two-dimensional pressure field surrounding the element have also been taken. These properties have been used in conjunction with the linear random vibration theory to arrive at predicted values for vibration amplitude. Good agreement has been found between measured and predicted values of vibration amplitude. It is shown that a high peripheral correlation of the driving forces is primarily responsible for the larger vibrations encountered in two-phase flow. Spectral analysis of the driving forces has been provided with a view toward providing useful information for fuel design.
