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Operations & Power
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.”
Kazuaki Kitoh, Seiichi Koshizuka, Yoshiaki Oka
Nuclear Technology | Volume 123 | Number 3 | September 1998 | Pages 233-244
Technical Paper | Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT98-A2895
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The safety design and the analyses of pressure- and flow-induced accidents and transients of the direct-cycle supercritical-water-cooled fast reactor (SCFR) are discussed. The coolant system of the SCFR is the once-through type like a fossil-fired power plant. Maintaining the core flow is adopted as a fundamental safety requirement. The coolant flow rate is measured for the safety signal instead of the water level of a boiling water reactor. To guarantee the core flow, the plant is equipped with four high-pressure auxiliary feedwater systems, four low-pressure coolant injection systems, turbine bypass valves, and an automatic depressurization system.Behaviors at pressure- and flow-induced events are analyzed by a computer code for assessing the safety of the reactor. Total loss of flow and pump seizure are considered as accidents, and the maximum cladding temperature criterion for stainless steel is satisfied. Flywheels are needed for the main feedwater pumps for prolonging the coastdown time more than 10 s. Six events are considered as transients. All results satisfy the minimum deterioration heat flux criterion. The loss of feedwater heating is not a severe transient, although there is no recirculation coolant. The loss of turbine load is not severe because the coolant flow is stagnated by closing turbine control valves, and the core power is reduced because of the decrease of the coolant density. The SCFR tolerates the pressure- and flow-induced events.