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Division Spotlight
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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.”
C. D. Fletcher, L. S. Ghan
Nuclear Technology | Volume 95 | Number 2 | August 1991 | Pages 228-246
Technical Paper | Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow | doi.org/10.13182/NT91-A34559
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Large thermal-hydraulic systems computer codes are most often applied to investigate safety issues in existing nuclear facilities. One such code is applied to aid the design process for a proposed state-of-the-art research reactor. The RELAP5 computer code is used to simulate system response to hypothetical loss-of coolant accidents (LOCAs) in an early design of the Advanced Neutron Source (ANS). Among accident scenarios, a LOCA event is expected to be one of the most challenging to the ANS reactor core; similar analyses for other accident types are in progress. This is the first detailed study of ANS transient system response during accidents, and the outcome of the analysis is used to benefit the design process. The ANS model used is based on an early (preconceptual) cool ing system design layout. This early design has since been superseded by an improved design that is partly based on the results of these studies. The calculated responses of the early design to representative LOCA events are described; the simulations indicate that fuel melting and damage would be experienced for medium and large breaks. The effectiveness of employing a gascharged accumulator on the primary coolant system for preventing fuel damage following medium- and large-break LOCAs is evaluated. As a result of this evaluation, the new ANS design incorporates such accumulators. Analysis uncertainties are addressed, and the findings from this study that were used for the next phase of ANS design are highlighted.