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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.”
T. H. SPRINGER AND S. G. CARPENTER.
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 17 | Number 2 | October 1963 | Pages 194-199
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE63-A28879
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A preliminary measurement of the Doppler effect in metallic thorium has been made in a fast neutron energy spectrum. The effect has been investigated up to slug temperatures of 500°C by an oscillator technique in which sensitivities on the order of 2 × 10-8 Δk/k can be attained with reasonable ease. The observed reactivity changes appear at this time to result largely from Doppler broadening of the resonances. This conclusion is supported by the fact that several, well-recognized correction terms have been found to be unimportant under the present circumstances. Based on a straight-line approximation to the measured points, the value of (1/ρ)(dρ/dT) was found to be 7.18 × 10-5/°C.
