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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.
Meeting Spotlight
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.”
N. E. Stauff, M. J. Driscoll, B. Forget, P. Hejzlar
Nuclear Technology | Volume 170 | Number 3 | June 2010 | Pages 371-382
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT10-1
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Breeding blankets are of interest for a sodium fast reactor (SFR) as they allow for small cores to have positive breeding gains. However, because they breed very high-quality plutonium, core designers are not currently encouraged to employ blankets. After verifying that the ERANOS code was in good agreement with BGcore, a Monte Carlo-based depletion system, it was shown that an SFR blanket design could breed less attractive plutonium than light water reactor (LWR)-bred plutonium for making a nuclear explosive device. Minor actinide (MA) doping and moderator addition were the two options studied. This study shows that it is possible to build an SFR with a secure blanket with MA addition; at steady state MAs from approximately 1.5 LWRs are required per SFR [both rated at 1 GW(electric)].
