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Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
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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.”
Swaminathan Vaidyanathan
Nuclear Technology | Volume 206 | Number 10 | October 2020 | Pages 1538-1552
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2019.1706377
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A fuel rod design consisting of a bimetallic cladding tube of thorium metal bonded to a zirconium alloy and containing seed fuel in the interior space is proposed for thorium utilization in pressurized water reactors. The design mitigates the severe thermal penalty that arises in radial microheterogeneous designs when thorium is present as an oxide. The level of thorium loading has an important effect on the achievable discharge exposure as too high a loading results in a large reactivity penalty that is not compensated by rapid enough 233U breeding. In the bimetallic cladding design, the level of thorium loading could be adjusted by varying the thorium metal thickness, and analyses are presented to evaluate optimal levels of thorium loading. Results of cases for higher levels of initial seed loading are presented with a view to extending exposure and reducing the number of discharged assemblies. Liquid metal bonding the seed fuel–cladding gap is preferable as it reduces the seed fuel temperature and at the same time provides more room for fuel swelling. Helium bonding the gap is also possible with a seed fuel modified by an inert matrix. Both approaches need data for fuel thermal modeling, swelling, and fission gas release at high burnup not currently available.