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
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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.”
Trevor L. Cook, Steven M. Mirsky
Nuclear Technology | Volume 76 | Number 1 | January 1987 | Pages 166-171
Fourth International Retran Meeting | Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow | doi.org/10.13182/NT87-A33907
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
As a part of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s unresolved safety issue A-45 decay heat removal program, the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) performed a TRAC-PF1 simulation of the Calvert Cliffs Unit 1 pressurized water reactor in a cooldown to residual heat removal (RHR) entry conditions after a loss of off-site power (LOSP). A detailed four-loop TRAC model developed for the A-49 pressurized thermal shock program was used. The LANL results indicated an inability to both cool down and depressurize the primary system sufficiently to meet RHR entry conditions using only the atmospheric dump valves and auxiliary pressurizer spray. A RETRAN-02/MOD3 analysis was performed for the same transient, using assumptions consistent with those in the LANL analysis. A fast-running one-loop RETRAN model was selected because of the inherent symmetry of the transient. The RETRAN results compared well with sensitivity analyses indicating that the pressurizer model dominates the transient signatures. A best estimate RETRAN analysis of the cooldown was performed using a more accurate set of assumptions to better understand actual plant operational responses. These results indicate that RHR entry could be achieved after an LOSP using only existing plant equipment and procedures.