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Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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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.”
Pedro Mata, Rafael de la Fuente, Pablo G. Sedano, Juan Serra
Nuclear Technology | Volume 121 | Number 3 | March 1998 | Pages 275-288
Technical Paper | RETRAN | doi.org/10.13182/NT98-A2839
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The development of a reload transient analysis methodology for Cofrentes nuclear power plant is presented based on the RETRAN-03 code. The starting point of this methodology was the Cofrentes best-estimate RETRAN model, which had been benchmarked against a number of startup and operational transients. In addition, the best-estimate model had been used to support plant operation and to analyze actual operational and abnormal transients.A number of sensitivity studies have been carried out with the best-estimate model to analyze the effect of the uncertainty associated with the key parameters on the critical power ratio in the most limiting Cofrentes reload transients. The individual uncertainties of key parameters have been combined to obtain the change in critical power ratio (CPR) with a 95% probability level (CPR95).Finally, the Cofrentes licensing model has been defined using conservative values for some significant parameters with the criterion that the calculated CPR cover CPR95. The results obtained with the licensing model have been checked against vendor calculations for the licensing reload transients.This methodology has been submitted to the Spanish Regulatory Commission, and it is expected to be used for the next Cofrentes reload licensing analysis.
