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Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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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.”
Constantinos Syros,* Claudio Ronchi, Cinzia Spanó
Nuclear Technology | Volume 94 | Number 2 | May 1991 | Pages 213-227
Technical Paper | Advances in Reactor Accident Consequence Assessment / Nuclear Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT91-A34543
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A semianalytical nonlinear model is described for the calculation of the burst release and release rate of volatile fission product (VFP) from a fuel pellet under steady-state and transient reactor conditions as well as the radial density distribution in the open porosity. The density of the VFP in the porosity channels is assumed to be c(r, t) = φ(r)exp[—LT(r)ω(t)] + Λ-1(t), where L is an analytical function of parameters characterizing the physics and the geometry of the pellet; φ(r) rigorously satisfies the required boundary conditions; and ω(t), the solution of a highly nonlinear differential equation, is a time function (“kinetic time”) that represents the evolution of the density profile. The constant Λ is suitably calculated with the zeroes of the Bessel function Jo(x). The density c(r, t) of the VFP in the open porosity of the pellet is used to find the pressure p(r, t) in the open pores. The integration procedure of the transport equation for different initial and boundary conditions is described. Calculation experiments are presented and discussed.