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Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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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.”
David W. Esh, Barry E. Scheetz
Nuclear Technology | Volume 137 | Number 3 | March 2002 | Pages 241-251
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management and Disposal | doi.org/10.13182/NT02-A3271
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The chemical and mineralogical conditions of the near-field, i.e., that area in the vicinity of the waste materials, may be significantly altered from ambient conditions by thermohydrological processes resulting from the placement of heat-generating radioactive materials in a geologic repository. Models are developed linking the thermohydrological effects simulated with TOUGH2 to a nonreactive aqueous species (chloride). Perturbations in near-field chemistry from the ambient conditions may have potential impacts on engineered barrier system (EBS) performance, waste-form degradation processes, and radionuclide transport. The results of thermohydrological simulations with TOUGH2 utilizing various conceptual models for fracture representation are coupled to simple chemical models (density and osmotic effects are neglected) to demonstrate the complexity and potential magnitude of thermohydrochemical (T-H-C) processes. The concentration of chloride in solution returning to the EBS following dryout, in extreme cases, is predicted to exceed 100 000 mg/l. The dimensionality of the problem and the rate at which the tuffaceous rocks rewet significantly affect the magnitude of the thermohydrological impact on chloride redistribution. A process metric (initial rewetting rate and distribution) that is ignored when evaluating thermohydrological response is very important when a more complex coupling (T-H-C) is considered.