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Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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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.”
Ketan Ajay, Ravi Kumar, Akhilesh Gupta
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 196 | Number 1 | January 2022 | Pages 75-97
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2021.1945393
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The postulated dual-failure accident, i.e., loss of primary coolant flow along with impairment of the emergency coolant injection system, leads to peak fuel temperatures. It is well known that the temperature of the fuel assemblies is one of the significant factors that affect the outcome of an accident. Therefore, the present work aims to thoroughly investigate the thermal response of a single channel under postulated accident conditions. An experimental system was developed to capture the steady-state heat and temperature distribution in a representative 37-element fuel channel for a decay heat of 6.13 kW. Ohmic heating of the fuel rod simulators (FRSs) mimicked the generation of radioactive decay heat. Numerical simulation was also performed using the Fluent 19.1® code, and the discrete ordinates method was used to solve the radiative transfer equation. Based on the experimental results and the simulation results, it was found that the maximum Zircaloy-4 cladding temperature ≈850°C to 870°C was in the center ring. The temperature was found to vary around the circumference for each of the FRSs. Furthermore, the outer ring FRSs that had the lowest temperature developed the highest circumferential temperature gradient. In the pressure tube, the average circumferential temperature gradient obtained from the experiment and the simulation was 3.76°C/radian and 3.85°C/radian, respectively. Between the calandria tube and the moderator, the heat transfer coefficient was estimated to be around 822.3 W/m2‧K.