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Division Spotlight
Young Members Group
The Young Members Group works to encourage and enable all young professional members to be actively involved in the efforts and endeavors of the Society at all levels (Professional Divisions, ANS Governance, Local Sections, etc.) as they transition from the role of a student to the role of a professional. It sponsors non-technical workshops and meetings that provide professional development and networking opportunities for young professionals, collaborates with other Divisions and Groups in developing technical and non-technical content for topical and national meetings, encourages its members to participate in the activities of the Groups and Divisions that are closely related to their professional interests as well as in their local sections, introduces young members to the rules and governance structure of the Society, and nominates young professionals for awards and leadership opportunities available to members.
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!
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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.”
Bernd Grambow, R. S. Forsyth, Lars O. Werme, Jordi Bruno
Nuclear Technology | Volume 92 | Number 2 | November 1990 | Pages 204-213
Technical Paper | Nuclear Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT90-A34471
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Observations on the mechanism of oxidation of UO2 in air and results from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy surface analyses of UO2 electrodes exposed to aqueous solutions show that the dissolving solid under oxic conditions is essentially U3O7 formed by oxygen diffusion on the UO2 surface. Saturation effects with respect to U3O7 can be of importance for the overall reaction rate if oxygen transport to the dissolving surface is limited. The release of soluble radionuclides in solid solution with the UO2 matrix appears to be limited by the mass transfer rates for the conversion of U3O7 to alteration products such as schoepite. The rates of 90Sr and 137Cs release decrease with the square root of time under uranium-saturated conditions. This time dependence may be explained by either grainboundary diffusion or by oxygen diffusion through the alteration product phase.
