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The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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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.”
DeeEarl Vaden
Nuclear Technology | Volume 88 | Number 3 | December 1989 | Pages 325-331
Technical Paper | Technique | doi.org/10.13182/NT89-A34315
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The hydrogen meter leak detectors at the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II) are periodically checked with a vacuum ionization gauge to see if the leak detectors are calibrated. The gauge, which measures equilibrium pressure, requires an equation to convert the gauge pressure to the hydrogen concentration in sodium. The original equationH, ppm = 10.30 * (Pg, Torr)1/2 is derived from Sievert’s law with adjustments for gauge sensitivity to hydrogen and thermal transpiration effects. EBR-II experience has shown that the Sievert’s law equation has not been reliable in accurately determining the hydrogen concentration in sodium. It is also difficult to determine the hydrogen gauge sensitivity, which can change with time. EBR-II has developed a new equation over a hydrogen range of 0.063 to 0.230 ppm,H, ppm = 0.016 + 10.10 * (Pg, Torr)1/2 , by using a frit-type plugging meter to determine the hydrogen concentration when an equilibrium pressure measurement is done. With sodium hydride as the predominant impurity, the impurity saturation temperature (plugging temperature) measured with the plugging meter can be used to calculate the hydrogen concentration. Measuring the equilibrium gauge pressure and plugging temperature at various hydrogen impurity levels provides the data to accurately calibrate the vacuum ionization gauge without measuring or estimating the gauge sensitivity, gauge temperature, or Sievert’s law constant.
