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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.”
S. Suyambazhahan, T. Sundararajan, Sarit K. Das
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 197 | Number 3 | March 2023 | Pages 413-427
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2116380
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Thermal striping is associated with random fluctuations of temperature that occur at the nonisothermal jet stream interface or across thermally stratified fluid layers due to the high heat transfer coefficient of liquid sodium flow. The temperature fluctuations in the jet mixing or stratified layer regions are transmitted to the adjoining structures after minimal attenuation in a Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor (LMFBR). In turn, the adjoining structure may experience high cycle fatigue and catastrophic failure caused by crack propagation. Investigations have been carried out in detail numerically, and frequency and amplitude of temperature fluctuations in 500-MW(electric) pool-type fast reactor [Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR)] structures for practical applications have been observed. The investigations consist of numerical simulations at two levels. First, a published benchmark experiment is analyzed, and then, a suitable computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is identified for simulating the thermal striping phenomenon numerically. After that, detailed flow and temperature fluctuations are predicted in the reactor structures by analysis carried out based on the CFD model. The values of the temperature fluctuations predicted are found to be within acceptable limits, as required by structural mechanics considerations in the study.