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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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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.”
Jungsook Clara Wren, Will Long, Chris J. Moore, Keith R. Weaver
Nuclear Technology | Volume 125 | Number 1 | January 1999 | Pages 13-27
Technical Paper | Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT99-A2929
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The performance of charcoal filters for removing radioiodine from airstreams has been studied under conditions associated with routine reactor operations, as well as under conditions expected following an accident. These studies have led to the development of a physical model that can predict the time-dependent behavior of iodine release from triethylenediamine (TEDA)-impregnated charcoal filters under postaccident conditions. The charcoal filter model and the experimental studies performed to obtain appropriate values for the parameters used in the model are described.The model is a one-dimensional mass balance equation that includes convection, diffusion, and adsorption-desorption processes. The adsorption-desorption kinetics for CH3I on TEDA-impregnated charcoal is based on a two-step process: physical adsorption on the charcoal surface followed by chemisorption on TEDA impregnants, the rate of this chemisorption depending on the concentration of the physically adsorbed CH3I. Experiments were performed to determine the temperature and relative humidity dependences of the parameters used in the model, i.e., the adsorption and desorption rate constants and adsorption capacities. For a given charcoal, it was assumed that the rate constants depend only on temperature, whereas the adsorption capacities depend only on relative humidity. The observed rate constants for the physical and chemical adsorption and desorption processes all show Arrhenius temperature dependences. The observed dependence of adsorption capacity on relative humidity is consistent with the assumption that the adsorption sites are reduced as a result of capillary condensation. The full CH3I breakthrough curves, calculated using the model, reproduced the experimental data very well, supporting the assumption of a two-step adsorption-desorption mechanism. Some of the simulation results are also presented.
