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
Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
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.”
T. M. Krishnamoorthy, S. N. Joshi, G. R. Doshi, R. N. Nair
Nuclear Technology | Volume 104 | Number 3 | December 1993 | Pages 351-357
Technical Paper | Special Issue on Waste Management / Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT93-A34896
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Leach characteristics of some typical nuclides such as cesium, strontium, cobalt, I−, and CO3−2 from ordinary portland cement waste forms have been studied using the ISO test method and radiotracers of the respective nuclides, i.e., 134Cs, 85Sr, 60Co, 131I, and 14C. The leach studies suggest a rapid release of radioactivity in the beginning (fast component) followed by slow release for long periods of time (slow component). A mathematical model has been simulated to describe the leaching kinetics of these nuclides from the cement matrix. The effective diffusion coefficient Deff is computed from the two componental diffusion coefficients, and the retardation factor (α) for a nuclide is evaluated from a knowledge of the radioactivity distribution in the aqueous and solid phase at equilibrium. The product αDeff for all the nuclides studied has been found to be approximately constant and is equal to the intrinsic diffusion coefficient in the cement matrix. The net fractional release of different radionuclides from cement waste form showed a decreasing pattern, i.e., 134Cs > 131I > 85Sr > 14Cr > 60Co indicating the largest diffusion coefficient for cesium as 10−2 cm2/day and the least for 14C as 3 × 10−8 cm2/day.