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Division Spotlight
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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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!
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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.”
Bhawna Pandey, P. M. Prajapati, S. Jakhar, C. V. S. Rao, T. K. Basu, B. K. Nayak, A. Saxena, S. V. Suryanarayana
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 179 | Number 3 | March 2015 | Pages 313-320
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE14-26
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The radionuclide 55Fe (t1/2 = 2.73 years) is one of the radionuclides produced in large quantities inside a fusion reactor. The excitation function of the (n,p) reaction from threshold to 20 MeV and proton emission spectra from the 55Fe target at 14-MeV neutron energy are calculated using optimized input parameters in the nuclear reaction modular codes EMPIRE-3.1 and TALYS-1.4. The codes account for the major nuclear reaction mechanisms, including direct, preequilibrium, and compound nucleus contributions. The present results of 55Fe(n,p)55Mn are compared with the existing evaluated nuclear data libraries ROSFOND-2010, JEFF-3.1, and EAF-2010 along with systematics around 14-MeV neutron energy. The prediction accuracy of the present calculation is considered to satisfy the requirement for fusion reactor applications. The theoretical nuclear model calculations with a reliable parameter set up to 20 MeV are recommended to estimate the cross section of radionuclides or unstable targets in the mass region A ∼ 50 to 60. The present work is an important step to study the cross section of the 55Fe(n,p)55Mn reaction by a surrogate method.