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
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
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.”
Pablo E. Araya, Miles Greiner
Nuclear Technology | Volume 167 | Number 3 | September 2009 | Pages 384-394
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT09-A9078
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Experiments performed by Lovett (1991) measured the temperature of an 8 × 8 array of horizontal heated rods in air within a constant temperature enclosure. That apparatus was a scaled-down model of a spent boiling water reactor fuel assembly in a transport package. In the current work, three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulations of natural convection and radiation heat transfer within this domain were conducted to determine appropriate boundary conditions and benchmark the results. Initial simulations employed nearly equal specified temperatures on the walls and endplates, and insulated rod ends. They accurately reproduced the shapes of the temperature profiles in the midplane but overpredicted the temperature level at the highest heat load. Simulations that included conduction within the endplates and convection from their outside surfaces more accurately modeled heat losses and brought the midplane temperatures close to the measured data. These experiences will be used to design experiments to benchmark simulations of spent fuel assemblies in transport package support structures.