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
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.
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.”
Joanna McFarlane, Jungsook C. Wren, Robert J. Lemire
Nuclear Technology | Volume 138 | Number 2 | May 2002 | Pages 162-178
Technical Paper | Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT138-162
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Iodine species released into a reactor containment building following a loss-of-coolant accident is determined by the relative timing and quantity of iodine and other fission products released from the fuel, chemical thermodynamics in the fuel channel, and reaction kinetics in cooler regions of the heat transport system (HTS). Iodine speciation along the transport path from the fuel to cooler regions of the HTS and into containment is evaluated using chemical thermodynamics calculations, leading to a prediction of the volatile iodine mole fraction that theoretically would enter containment. Sensitivities to a decrease in the cesium-to-iodine ratio, a decrease in iodine concentration in the coolant, and an increase in oxygen partial pressure are tested. The role of the presence of other elements, namely, molybdenum, tellurium, uranium, and lithium, are also evaluated. Under most conditions, the mole fraction of iodine entering containment in volatile form is found to be <0.1%. There are circumstances, however, when cesium iodide can be destabilized by a low cesium-to-molybdenum ratio in an oxidizing atmosphere such as steam. To further explore this situation and to validate the code, chemical equilibrium calculations are also compared to earlier Knudsen-cell experimental studies of the interaction of cesium, iodine, molybdenum, and urania. In these experiments, the partial pressures of cesium molybdate and elemental iodine are measured as a function of temperature over the range 1100 to 1500 K. The calculated Cs2MoO4 vapor pressures agree with the experimental results within an order of magnitude at temperatures up to 1200 K; and between 770 and 1150 K, the agreement is within a factor of 2 to 5 depending on the chemical system.