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.”
Katsuyuki Kawashima, Kotaro Inoue, Kunikazu Kaneto, Tatsutoshi Inagaki
Nuclear Technology | Volume 70 | Number 2 | August 1985 | Pages 180-188
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT85-A33642
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An axially heterogeneous core (AHC) concept is applied to a 1000-MW(electric)-class tank-type liquidmetal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR). This AHC is characterized by a disk-shaped internal blanket with a radial thickness adjustment at the core midplane. The nuclear characteristics connected with control rod worth of the AHC are analyzed and compared with those of a homogeneous core (HOC) of the same power rating. The neutronics analysis shows that the reactivity insertion due to the vertical displacement of control rods relative to the core, which is an important safety characteristic of a tank-type LMFBR core, is significantly decreased in the AHC because of the reduced control worth requirement and smaller peakto-average differential worth in the primary control system. This allows the AHC to have a vertical displacement 50% greater than that of the HOC and may offer less rigid design conditions for roof slab stiffness and core support systems in a tank-type LMFBR. A reduction in the number of primary control rods is also possible because of a smaller control worth requirement and a better power peaking factor. The work was sponsored by a federation of Japanese electric power companies and performed under the guidance of the fast breeder reactor project office.
