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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.”
Michael P. Manahan
Nuclear Technology | Volume 85 | Number 3 | June 1989 | Pages 324-333
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT89-A34254
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Small flakes that consist primarily of magnetite have been discovered on the secondary side of the steam generator of the Three Mile Island Unit 1 plant. These iron oxide flakes are believed to cause significant increases in flow resistance, which in turn causes abnormal increases in steam generator water level. It is necessary to measure the physical properties of the tube scale so that the maximum amount of loose flakes can be generated prior to hydrodynamic cleaning (water slap). It is also important to study the flake properties to shed light on the flake formation and transport mechanisms. Once the physical properties of the tube scale are determined, the effects of hydrodynamic cleaning (water slap) can be optimized by preconditioning the scale. There are several preconditioning options including prewetting, predrying, and thermal cycling of the steam generator tubes. Understanding the physical properties of the scale would also be beneficial in optimizing the water slap technique itself. Elastic modulus, fracture stress, thermal expansion, and swelling of the flakes were measured. With one exception, all of the flakes studied were either one-or two-layered as judged by microstructural variation. The fracture stress of the flake materials tested was in the range of 20.0 to 113.8 MPa (2.9 to 16.5 ksi). There did not appear to be a substantial change in the range of stresses measured at elevated temperatures. There was no evidence of delamination during bend testing. The mean coefficient of linear thermal expansion was a factor of ∼2 larger than that of Fe3O4. The maximum amount of swelling measured was 0.0012%, which is consistent with earlier data on flakes from the Oconee-2 plant.