ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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.”
Michael F. Simpson
Nuclear Technology | Volume 171 | Number 3 | September 2010 | Page 231
doi.org/10.13182/NT10-A10858
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Pyroprocessing is a nuclear fuel cycle technology that can be used to separate spent fuel into reusable actinide products and high-level waste streams. It consists of nonaqueous, electrochemical unit operations that typically use molten salt electrolytes operating at high temperatures. It has several advantages relative to aqueous technologies (i.e., PUREX, UREX, and COEX), especially for fast reactors. These benefits include but are not limited to compact space requirements, efficient recycling of metallic fuel, integrated waste processing and fuel fabrication, and unique nuclear material safeguards features. The technology is currently being used to process spent fuel from the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II in the United States, is being readied for BN-800 fuel treatment in Russia, and is being developed for commercial spent-fuel processing in South Korea.
