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Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
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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.”
John Sorensen
Nuclear Technology | Volume 83 | Number 3 | December 1988 | Pages 383-395
Technical Paper | Fifth International Retran Meeting / Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow | doi.org/10.13182/NT88-A34151
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The possibility of instabilities under certain conditions of operation has been a special concern for boiling water reactors (BWRs). A stability analysis is performed to demonstrate that the total system and its primary components are inherently stable over the allowable operating envelope. The current methodology used by BWR fuel vendors for core reactivity and channel hydrodynamic stability is based on frequency domain analysis. RETRAN is the Electric Power Research Institute time domain system transient analysis code that is widely used by domestic and foreign utilities. RETRAN allows the reactor system to be modeled in a highly accurate manner including all important phenomena (linear and nonlinear) associated with anticipated and unforeseen conditions of operation. RETRAN is demonstrated to be adequate for the analysis of total plant stability, core reactivity stability, and channel hydrodynamic stability. All key phenomena are adequately modeled by RETRAN and core reactivity analyses have been shown to agree well with measured plant data.
