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Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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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.”
W. S. Yeung, Jen Wu, R. T. Fernandez, R. K. Sundaram
Nuclear Technology | Volume 101 | Number 2 | February 1993 | Pages 244-251
Technical Note | Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow | doi.org/10.13182/NT93-A34786
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The results of the transient behavior of the water cannon phenomenon determined by RELAP5/MOD3 Version 5m5 are presented. The physical system consists of a 0.7112-m-long, 0.0381-m-i.d. vertical tube partially immersed in a reservoir of subcooled water. The tube is closed at the top and initially filled with saturated steam. The water cannon is created when a liquid slug is drawn into the tube because of the rapid condensation of the steam. In a fraction of a second, the liquid slug strikes the top end of the tube and causes a large pressure spike. The primary objective is to apply the RELAP5/MOD3 computer code to analyze the water cannon event and assess the ability of RELAP5/MOD3 to simulate fast two-phase transients. The sensitivity of time-step size and mesh size has been studied. It is found that RELAP5/MOD3 adequately simulated the transient process with a mesh size of 0.07112 m (i.e., ten nodes) and a time-step size of 10−5 s. The calculated peak pressure of the first pressure spike is of the same order of magnitude as experimental data from literature. The effect of reservoir temperature on the magnitude of the first pressure spike is also studied, and it is found that the pressure peak value decreased with increasing reservoir temperature.
