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Division Spotlight
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
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.”
Mária Chromčíková, Jana Vokelová, Jaroslava Michálková, Marek Liška, Jan Macháček, Ondrej Gedeon, Vojtech Soltész
Nuclear Technology | Volume 193 | Number 2 | February 2016 | Pages 297-305
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NT15-22
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The chemical durability of gamma-irradiated glass fibrous insulation commonly used in the reactor containment of nuclear power plants was tested by static leaching tests at 90°C. Distilled water and borate coolant solution were used as corrosive media. Two radiation doses, 2 and 4 MGy, were applied, the higher one roughly corresponding to 30 years of irradiation in reactor containment. The glass insulation was irradiated at low (70°C) and increased (450°C) temperatures. The results of the static leaching tests were compared with those obtained for nonirradiated native glass fibers. In distilled water, higher normalized leached amounts of calcium were found for low-temperature-irradiated glass fibers and in the initial stage of leaching of high-temperature-irradiated glass fibers; the lower normalized leached amounts were found for boron for glasses irradiated at both temperatures. In the borate coolant solution, higher normalized leached amounts of calcium and lower leached amounts of aluminum were observed for glasses irradiated at both temperatures. In all cases, the results were comparable for both applied radiation doses. Moreover, extraordinary brittleness of the glass fibers irradiated at high temperature was observed. This principally new finding needs further experimental and theoretical investigation.