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
Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
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.”
Hubertus Nickel, Philip J. Ennis, Florian Schubert, Hans Schuster
Nuclear Technology | Volume 58 | Number 1 | July 1982 | Pages 90-106
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT82-A32962
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
As in conventional high temperature technology, the qualification of metallic materials for high temperature reactor (HTR) applications is based on creep behavior, fatigue properties, corrosion resistance, and thermal stability. Of specific interest are the effects of the primary coolant helium, which contains trace impurities of hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, and water vapor, on mechanical behavior. In addition, irradiation effects on the properties of absorber rod cladding and tritium permeation from the primary coolant into the process gas are important areas for investigation. The results show that, for test times of up to 20 000 h, the creep-rupture strength in air and in HTR helium lies in the same scatter band. The results of low cycle fatigue tests indicate a beneficial effect of HTR helium on the cycles of failure. Investigations of corrosion in HTR helium have shown that acceptable corrosion resistance can be achieved by strict control of the impurity content of the helium. Using the available creep-rupture data and the linear damage accumulation rule, the acceptable service lives of intermediate heat exchanger tubes were calculated for Inconel alloy 617 at 950°C. The data that are being accumulated from the various test programs will form the basis of a design code for nuclear components operating at temperatures >800 °C.