ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
Standards Program
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
April 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.”
Helmut Hoffmann, Dietrich Weinberg, Yoshiaki Ieda, Klaus Marten, Herbert Tschöke, Hans-Heinz Frey, Kurt Dres
Nuclear Technology | Volume 88 | Number 1 | October 1989 | Pages 75-86
Technical Paper | Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow | doi.org/10.13182/NT89-A34338
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
To examine the function of the safety-related SNR-2 decay heat removal concept, natural convection experiments were performed in two- and three-dimensional water models, scaled 1:20, under conditions of symmetric and nonsymmetric loads of the immersed coolers installed in the upper plenum at 180-deg positions with respect to each other. The temperature and velocity distributions were measured and the flow patterns recorded for different configurations of the instrumented plug. For symmetric load conditions, symmetric temperature and flow distributions were measured in two- and three-dimensional models. Nonsymmetric load conditions produce remarkable temperature differences between the two separated plenums of the two-dimensional model if fluid circulation is suppressed by a closed plug. An open plug allows fluid to pass through and shows lower temperature differences. In contrast, in the three-dimensional experiment, azimuthal fluid flow inside the plenum prevails even with the plug closed, and identical temperature distributions are measured. The calculations using the COMMIX-1B code are generally in good agreement with the measurements.