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Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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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.”
Yong Hoon Jeong, Mujid S. Kazimi
Nuclear Technology | Volume 160 | Number 2 | November 2007 | Pages 233-243
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT07-A3895
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
By using a combination of a nuclear reactor that emits no carbon dioxide and a high-efficiency gas turbine cycle, electric utilities can reduce their generating cost as well as minimize greenhouse gas emissions. The economic competitiveness of pure natural-gas combined-cycle (NGCC), nuclear-assisted NGCC, and pure nuclear power plants is studied, and the level of CO2 emission tax effects on the cost of electricity from each plant is defined.An advanced gas-cooled nuclear reactor in addition to a conventional NGCC as a heat source for the air exiting the compressor is considered. At a reactor outlet gas temperature of 900°C, the thermal contribution (fossil fuel saving and CO2 reduction) by nuclear energy in the nuclear-assisted NGCC cycle was 46.3%.To assess the economic competitiveness of the plants, the levelized electricity generation costs were calculated. The economics depend primarily on the cost of natural gas and the capital cost of the nuclear reactor. Obviously, the best plant option for low natural-gas cost is pure NGCC and is pure nuclear power for high natural-gas prices. The intersecting points are affected by the assumed carbon tax.Several synergetic effects for using nuclear and fossil powers together are quantified. First, since the electricity generation cost of the nuclear-assisted NGCC cycle is not as sensitive to gas price as the NGCC, the economic risk of fluctuations in gas prices can be minimized by adopting a nuclear-assisted NGCC cycle. Second, the high nuclear capital cost can be largely compensated for by the low capital cost of the gas turbine plant. For example, 3000 $/kW(electric) of nuclear capital cost can be effectively reduced to ~1500 $/kW(electric) for the hybrid plant. Third, nuclear-assisted NGCC has several advantages over the two single-fuel options in the reduction of high capital costs and high gas prices. In addition, the greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by half by using nuclear-assisted NGCC, and the amount of nuclear spent fuel per kilowatt-hour would also be less than that of the pure nuclear option.