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.
Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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
Apr 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
April 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.”
K. L. Thomsen
Nuclear Technology | Volume 137 | Number 1 | January 2002 | Pages 28-46
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT02-A3255
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Two partial models have been developed to elucidate the Three Mile Island Unit 2 lower head coolability by water percolation from above into the thermally cracking debris bed and into a gap between the debris and the wall. The bulk permeability of the cracked top crust is estimated based on simple fracture mechanics and application of Poiseuille's law to the fractures. The gap is considered as an abstraction representing an initially rugged interface, which probably expanded by thermal deformation and cracking in connection with the water ingress. The coupled flow and heat conduction problem for the top crust is solved in slab geometry based on the two-phase Darcy equations together with quasi-steady mass and energy conservation equations. The resulting water penetration depth is in good agreement with the depth of the so-called loose debris bed. The lower-head and bottom-crust problem is treated analogously by a two-dimensional axisymmetric model. The notion of a gap is maintained as a useful concept in the flow analysis. Simulations show that a central hot spot with a peak wall temperature of 1075 to 1100°C can be obtained, but the quenching rates are not satisfactory. It is concluded that a three-dimensional model with an additional mechanism to explain the sudden water ingress to the hot spot center would be more appropriate.