ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Jul 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
August 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
The Frisch-Peierls memorandum: A seminal document of nuclear history
The Manhattan Project is usually considered to have been initiated with Albert Einstein’s letter to President Franklin Roosevelt in October 1939. However, a lesser-known document that was just as impactful on wartime nuclear history was the so-called Frisch-Peierls memorandum. Prepared by two refugee physicists at the University of Birmingham in Britain in early 1940, this manuscript was the first technical description of nuclear weapons and their military, strategic, and ethical implications to reach high-level government officials on either side of the Atlantic. The memorandum triggered the initiation of the British wartime nuclear program, which later merged with the Manhattan Engineer District.
Kevin W. Brinckman, Mark A. Chaiko
Nuclear Technology | Volume 133 | Number 1 | January 2001 | Pages 133-139
Technical Note | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT01-A3164
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The TRAC-BF1 computer code is used to analyze the fluid pressure response for a waterhammer event in a water-filled pipe with entrapped air. TRAC's capabilities are assessed by comparison against a method-of-characteristics (MOC) solution of pressure-wave propagation in a gas/liquid interface system. A vertically oriented pipe with air initially occupying up to 10% of the pipe volume is considered. A step increase in pressure is imposed at the inlet, and the fluid pressure response in the pipe is calculated. TRAC correctly predicts that the peak pressure with entrapped air is substantially higher than it would be in a purely liquid system. For an initial air volume equal to 10% of the pipe volume, the peak pressure calculated by TRAC compares within 1% of the MOC result. For smaller initial air volumes, TRAC underpredicts the peak pressure disturbance by up to 14% compared to the MOC. The TRAC solution exhibits a degree of long-term artificial damping, but in all cases it captures the basic features of the pressure response for a waterhammer event in a system with entrapped air.