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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.
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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.”
Martin P. Sherman, Marshall Berman
Nuclear Technology | Volume 81 | Number 1 | April 1988 | Pages 63-77
Technical Paper | Nuclear Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT88-A34079
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
It is possible to objectively determine whether a detonation can propagate in a given geometry (volume shape and size, obstacle configuration, degree of confinement) for a given mixture composition (concentrations of hydrogen, air, and steam); this is done by conservatively equating the detonation propagation criteria with the criteria for transition from deflagration to detonation. To reduce the degree of conservatism in this procedure, estimates of the probability of transition to detonation are constructed, based on subjective extrapolations of empirical data. A methodology is introduced that qualitatively ranks mixtures and geometries according to the degree to which they are conducive to transition to detonation. The methodology is then applied to analyzing the potential for local detonations in the Bellefonte reactor containment for a variety of accident scenarios. Based on codecalculated rates and quantities of hydrogen generation and calculated rates of transport and mixing, this methodology indicates a low potential for detonation except for one volume in a few cases.
