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
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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.”
Sang Ji Kim, Yonghee Kim, Sergi Hong, Chung Ho Cho, Jae-Hyuk Eoh, Jong Bum Kim, Myung Hwan Wi, Kwi Seok Ha, Eui Kwang Kim
Nuclear Technology | Volume 170 | Number 1 | April 2010 | Pages 148-158
Technical Paper | Special Issue on the 2008 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants / Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT10-A9453
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The conceptual design of a 900-MW(thermal) lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) system for transuranic element (TRU) burning is developed and analyzed using TRU-U-Zr metallic alloy fuel. The design and analysis areas covered are neutronics design, thermal-hydraulic analysis, thermal system design, system mechanical design and analysis, system arrangement, passive decay heat removal system evaluation, and safety analysis for anticipated transient without scram (ATWS) events. Design challenges, solutions, and further research and development items during the conceptual design are described in this paper. Large burnup reactivity swing inherent in the transmutation reactor and irradiation damage to the cladding by high fast neutron fluence are overcome by filling in boron carbide within the tie rods with axial cutbacks. The lead coolant in the reactor pool was estimated to lead to a maximum stress of 125 MPa in the containment vessel. For the long-term cooling behavior upon the concurrent occurrences of a loss of heat sink and a loss of flow, the hot pool temperature is maintained below the design limit of 650°C, which is achieved by an improved decay heat removal design with heat transfer enhancement mechanisms. Analyses of the ATWSs in the investigated core do not reveal any problem from the viewpoints of fuel temperature, cladding temperature, and hot pool temperature. In conclusion, the 900-MW(thermal) LFR system in this study does not pose any significant design-related concerns except for a marginal seismic loading due to the large coolant mass and a verification of the newly introduced design resolutions for long-term decay heat removal.