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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.
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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.”
Ulrich Hesse
Nuclear Technology | Volume 82 | Number 2 | August 1988 | Pages 173-186
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT88-A34106
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Reliable prediction of the characteristics of irradiated light water reactor fuels (e.g., afterheat power, neutron and gamma radiation sources, final uranium and plutonium contents) is needed for many aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle. Two main problems must be solved: the simulation of all isotopic nuclear reactions and the simulation of neutron fluxes setting the reactions in motion. In state-of-the-art computer techniques, a combination of specialized codes for lattice cell and burnup calculations is preferred to solve these cross-linked problems in time or burnup step approximation. In the program system OREST, developed for official and commercial tasks in the Federal Republic of Germany nuclear fuel cycle, the well-known codes HAMMER and ORIGEN are directly coupled with a fuel rod temperature module. Starting with a zero-dimensional burnup code such as ORIGEN, the importance of one- and more-dimensional neutron flux calculations in the field of isotope generation and depletion calculation is shown. OREST results are compared with measured isotope concentrations of depleted uranium dioxide samples and of mixed oxide (MOX) rods irradiated in different assembly positions. In addition, published results from two lattice cell burnup program systems are shown. Currently, ORIGEN (1973 version) is applied by many users in a stand-alone mode. The achievable accuracies are discussed. Only a few measurements of irradiated MOX fuels have been available. Considering the actual projects for reprocessing and recycling of nuclear fuels, further and fully documented isotope analyses are needed.