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Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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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.”
Goodluck I. Ofoegbu, Scott Painter, Rui Chen, Randall W. Fedors, David A. Ferrill
Nuclear Technology | Volume 134 | Number 3 | June 2001 | Pages 241-262
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management and Disposal | doi.org/10.13182/NT01-A3199
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The percolation flux through the unsaturated zone at the proposed Yucca Mountain repository for high-level nuclear waste can potentially affect (a) the occurrence and magnitude of water influx into the emplacement drifts, (b) the onset and rates of waste-package corrosion, (c) the mobilization of waste into aqueous states, and (d) the transport of radionuclides to the saturated zone. The magnitude and spatial and temporal variations of percolation flux depend on the infiltration rate but may be significantly influenced by (a) lateral diversion of flow at stratigraphic interfaces between nonwelded and welded tuffs above the repository horizon, (b) focusing of flow within or near steeply dipping fault zones, and (c) lateral diversion of flow within thermal-mechanical altered zones. Results from numerical modeling are presented to argue that (a) areas of the repository located close to and on the up-dip side of faults that intersect the Paintbrush nonwelded Tuff (PTn) would experience elevated percolation flux, irrespective of whether the faults act as flow barriers or conduits; (b) mechanical response of the rock mass to waste-generated heat will likely cause the development of laterally discontinuous zones characterized by dilation of horizontal fractures and net dilation or closure of vertical fractures; (c) areas of the repository located on the downstream side of the thermal-mechanical altered zones would experience elevated percolation flux; and (d) repository areas subjected to elevated percolation flux would experience faster rewetting of dryout zones and, thus, longer periods of wetness and elevated humidity. These results indicate that models used to predict the occurrence and magnitudes of water influx into emplacement drifts and the variations of relative humidity within the drifts need to consider the location of the drifts relative to faults that intersect the PTn and the development, geometry, and hydrological characteristics of thermal-mechanical altered zones.