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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.”
Jinseok Park, Wonho Lee, Myounggoo Lee, Yeonho Cho, Hyunmin Kim, Chulsoo Maeng
Nuclear Technology | Volume 206 | Number 3 | March 2020 | Pages 435-443
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2019.1635363
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An ex-vessel–type control element drive mechanism (CEDM) is installed on the nozzles of a reactor vessel closure head. However, there has been a demand for locating CEDMs inside the reactor vessel because doing so provides many benefits such as eliminating rod ejection accidents, minimizing pressure boundary penetration, and simplifying the reactor head area structure. Accordingly, an in-vessel CEDM has been developed to operate inside the nuclear reactor. Developing an in-vessel CEDM is very challenging because of the harsh environment of high temperature, high pressure, high radiation, and submerged condition. During intense research work for several years, KEPCO E&C designed an in-vessel CEDM and studied its feasibility by electromagnetic analysis and thermal analysis. Then, a prototype of the in-vessel CEDM was manufactured to prove its performance and operability at normal reactor operating conditions. This paper introduces key design work and validation tests of the in-vessel CEDM including an in-vessel position indicator.