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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
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.
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!
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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.”
Christine Mansilla
Nuclear Technology | Volume 162 | Number 3 | June 2008 | Pages 323-332
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT08-A3959
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Generation IV nuclear reactors will not be implemented unless they enable lower production costs than with the current systems. In such a context, considering only technical issues such as the performances of the plant is not entirely satisfactory since maximizing the system efficiency does not guarantee a minimum cost. Consequently, a technoeconomic optimization method was developed and then applied to the power conversion system of a very high temperature reactor.Technoeconomic optimization consists in minimizing an objective function that depends on technical and economic variables. The advantage of the technoeconomic optimization compared to classical optimizations based on the efficiency is that it can take into account both investment costs and operating costs.A technoeconomic model was implemented in a specific optimization software named Vizir, which is based on genetic algorithms. The calculation of the thermodynamic cycle is performed by a software named Tugaz.The results are the values of the decision variables that lead to a minimum cost, according to the model. The total production cost is evaluated. The consequences of different modifications of the model are discussed.
