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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.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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.”
Codey Olson, Jesse Snow, Meng-Jen (Vince) Wang, Glenn Sjoden, Edward Cazalas
Nuclear Technology | Volume 209 | Number 9 | September 2023 | Pages 1241-1251
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2203291
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Here we perform the matching of neutron counts in two detector gasses through capture reactions and radiation transport–optimized moderating materials. One of our detectors uses helium-3 (3He) gas and has been widely used as a neutron detection material in proportional detector tube designs. This study examines boron trifluoride (BF3) as a potential gas for neutron detection in place of 3He based on a previously studied “spectrally matched” design derived from deterministic adjoint analyses that closely mimic the spectral response of 3He. The integrated spectral response of each tube, i.e., the count rate, is calculated and measured at various distances from an isotropic neutron source where similar “total sources” are achieved in either detection system. Our results show the integrated spectral response of a dual BF3 tube detector was within 10% of a single 3He tube when exposed to a similar source. GEANT4 Monte Carlo simulations were used to calculate the total source for each detector and showed count rates within 5% of those produced by MCNP, providing a strong confidence in its behavior in the thermal energy regime. We provide results in this study to partially validate the replacement based on the spectrally matched design, which will lead to further validation through the utilization of multiple neutron spectra via simulated and experimental studies.