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Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy
The mission of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division (NNPD) is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology while simultaneously preventing the diversion and misuse of nuclear material and technology through appropriate safeguards and security, and promotion of nuclear nonproliferation policies. To achieve this mission, the objectives of the NNPD are to: Promote policy that discourages the proliferation of nuclear technology and material to inappropriate entities. Provide information to ANS members, the technical community at large, opinion leaders, and decision makers to improve their understanding of nuclear nonproliferation issues. Become a recognized technical resource on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and security issues. Serve as the integration and coordination body for nuclear nonproliferation activities for the ANS. Work cooperatively with other ANS divisions to achieve these objective nonproliferation policies.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
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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.”
Patrick Jollivet, Michèle Nicolas, Etienne Vernaz
Nuclear Technology | Volume 123 | Number 1 | July 1998 | Pages 67-81
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management and Disposal | doi.org/10.13182/NT98-A2880
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A calculation code was developed by the Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique to estimate the influence of the major parameters of a geologic repository site on the alteration of a high-level vitrified waste package. The model is based on a first-order kinetic law and on a deviation concerning saturation with respect to H4SiO4. Glass alteration is governed by the coefficient of silicon diffusion in the interstitial water of the gel layer and by the leachate renewal rate (i.e., the flow rate in the repository) if it is of very low magnitude. The effects of the other parameters are much less significant. When applied to the alteration of natural basalts, the code seems to indicate that the gel conserves its diffusion barrier properties for a long time. Finally, the validity of the underlying hypotheses of the code is discussed.
