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
Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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.”
Jiyun Zhao, Pradip Saha, Mujid S. Kazimi
Nuclear Technology | Volume 161 | Number 2 | February 2008 | Pages 108-123
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT08-A3917
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Using a three-region supercritical water flow model, the core-wide in-phase stability of the U.S. reference supercritical water-cooled reactor (SCWR) design is investigated. The reactor core is simulated as three channels according to the radial power distribution. A method based on modes (reactivity modes) expansion of neutronic kinetic equations is applied. A constant pressure drop boundary condition between the feedwater pump and the turbine control valve is assumed. Cases with and without water rods heating are studied.It is found that the stability of the U.S. reference SCWR design is sensitive to the flow restrictions in the hot fluid or the steam line. As long as the restriction in the steam line is small, the design will be stable. A pressure loss coefficient of 0.25 is assumed for the exit valve on the steam line in this analysis. With this value, the SCWR is stable with a large margin. It is concluded that the presence of water rods heating will reduce the stability margin and increase the flow rate sensitivity while maintaining the power sensitivity level.The decay ratios for the three density wave oscillation modes, i.e., single hot channel, coupled neutronic out-of-phase and in-phase, are compared at steady-state conditions. It is found that the single hot channel oscillation mode is the most limiting one in the absence of the water rods heating, while the in-phase oscillation mode is most limiting in the presence of water rods heating.