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Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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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.”
Staffan Jacobsson, Camilla Andersson, Ane Håkansson, Anders Bäcklin
Nuclear Technology | Volume 135 | Number 2 | August 2001 | Pages 131-145
Technical Paper | Enrichment | doi.org/10.13182/NT01-A3211
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A tomographic method for experimental investigation of the integrity of used light water reactor fuel assemblies has been developed. It is based on spectroscopic measurements of the gamma radiation from fission products in fuel rods. The method utilizes beforehand information about the nominal geometry of both the measured fuel assembly and the measurement equipment. A reconstruction code of the algebraic type has been written.The potential of the technique has been examined in extensive simulations, assuming a gamma-ray energy of either 662 keV (137Cs) or 1274 keV (154Eu). The ability of detecting various configurations of manipulated rods, both single and in groups, has been investigated. Two main types of manipulations have been simulated.First, there is the removal of rods without replacement. The results indicate that all investigated configurations of removed rods in boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel can be reliably detected using 137Cs radiation. For pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel, the same result is obtained, with the exception of the most central positions. Here, the more penetrating radiation from 154Eu may have to be used.Second, there is the replacement of rods with fresh fuel or fuel-like material. The results clearly indicate that all simulated cases of such manipulation can be most confidently detected. The simulations include various configurations of replaced rods in both BWR and PWR fuel, using both gamma-ray energies.