ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
April 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.”
Junhyuk Jang, Minsoo Lee, Gha-Young Kim, Mihye Kong, Jin-Seop Kim
Nuclear Technology | Volume 209 | Number 11 | November 2023 | Pages 1785-1796
Regular Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2213495
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Corrosion modules simulating the engineered barrier system were designed in this study for long-term-corrosion (LTC) testing of canister materials under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The LTC module for aerobic conditions was designed as a bath-type container with flowing underground water extracted from the Korea Underground Research Tunnel. Five types of metallic disks, that is, rolled Cu, Type 304 stainless steel (SS), Titanium Grade 2 (Ti-G2), cast iron (CI), and Cu coating, were embedded into bentonite and maintained at different temperatures. After 3 years of testing under aerobic conditions, the corrosion rates of CI and Cu were estimated to be 1.9 μm/year and 550 nm/year, respectively. The SS and Ti-G2 exhibited a better corrosion rate of 6 nm/year. The LTC module for anaerobic conditions was developed in a vessel-type cylindrical container to allow it to settle in the boreholes. Four coin-shaped disks of each metal were embedded in bentonite, which was subsequently stacked in the cylindrical vessel. The vessels were placed in boreholes at a depth of 300 m. The Cu corrosion rate after 6 months of LTC testing under anaerobic conditions was 280 nm/year. Longer LTC tests will provide a more exact corrosion rate.