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Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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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.”
R. A. Borrelli, Joonhong Ahn
Nuclear Technology | Volume 164 | Number 3 | December 2008 | Pages 442-464
Technical Paper | Materials for Nuclear Systems | doi.org/10.13182/NT08-A4037
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A scoping study is presented in order to investigate the potential of bentonite extrusion on radionuclide transport in a water-saturated planar fracture. A coupled mathematical model for an abstracted case describing the mass conservation of radionuclides and bentonite extrusion into the fracture is established to observe the mass transport phenomena due to bentonite extrusion in the fracture domain. Results of numerical simulations are then analyzed in order to interpret the potential importance of extrusion in the near-field rock on the overall performance of the engineered barrier system (EBS). The mathematical model developed in this study for radionuclide migration incorporates spatial and temporal changes in porosity due to movement of bentonite particles. Finite element solutions have been derived for the porosity and for the radionuclide concentration.With a sufficiently strong sorption, the radionuclide is observed to be contained within the region of bentonite extrusion, indicating that radionuclides would be retained within the extrusion region even if the waste canister fails early while bentonite is extruding in fractures. Such results imply the potential of the extrusion region to enhance performance in the EBS and warrant more rigorous modeling studies of this domain.
