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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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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.”
M. J. Kulkarni, A. A. Argekar, S. K. Thulasidas, B. A. Dhawale, B. Rajeswari, V. C. Adya, P. J. Purohit, G. Neelam, T. R. Bangia, A. G. Page, M. D. Sastry, R. H. Iyer
Nuclear Technology | Volume 106 | Number 3 | June 1994 | Pages 326-333
Technical Paper | Nuclear Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT94-A34962
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A comprehensive trace metal assay of uranium sil-icide, a fuel for nuclear research reactors that employs low-enrichment uranium, is carried out by atomic spectrometry. Of the list of specification elements, 21 metallic elements are determined by a direct current (dc) arc carrier distillation technique; the rare earths yttrium and zirconium are chemically separated from the major matrix followed by a dc arc/inductively coupled argon plasma (ICP) excitation technique in atomic emission spectrometry (AES); silver is determined by electrothermal atomization-atomic absorption spectrometry (ETA-AAS) without prior chemical separation of the major matrix. Gamma radioactive tracers are used to check the recovery of rare earths during the chemical separation procedure. The detection limits for trace metallics vary in the 0.1- to 40-ppm range. The precision of the determinations as evaluated from the analysis of the synthetic sample with intermediate range analyte concentration is better than 25% relative standard deviation (RSD) for most of the elements employing dc arc-AES, while that for silver determination by ETA-AAS is 10% RSD. The precision of the determinations for four crucially important rare earths by ICP-AES is better than 3% RSD.