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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.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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.”
Cheol Ho Pyeon, Kota Morioka
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 196 | Number 10 | October 2022 | Pages 1147-1160
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2070385
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Nuclear data–induced uncertainty of criticality is successfully analyzed by combining the eigenvalue calculations, the uncertainty, and the reduction of uncertainty with the use of the KENO-VI code, the TSUNAMI-3D and the TSURFER modules of the SCAL6.2.4 code system, respectively. The comparative study of conventional and revised S(α, β) applications is also conducted by KENO-VI. Notably, the KENO-VI analyses reveal the difference between the experimental and numerical results of criticality and the neutron spectrum dependence of criticality on the H/U ratio in the solid-moderated and solid-reflected cores at the Kyoto University Critical Assembly (KUCA). The difference is identified as the leading cause of uncertainty in the 235U fission spectrum (χ value) through the combined use of the uncertainty and the cross-section adjustment by TSUNAMI-3D and TSURFER, respectively, especially that the highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel is loaded into the KUCA cores. Also, the neutron spectrum dependence of criticality is attributable to the uncertainty induced by the cross-section data of 235U capture, 27Al elastic scattering, and inelastic scattering reactions in the HEU fuel plate and to the 1H capture reactions in the polyethylene moderator through the TSUNAMI-3D analyses.