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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.
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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!
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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.”
Koen Mannaerts (Fedeeral Agency for Nuclear Control), Graham Smith (GMS Abingdon Ltd.), Karen Smith (RadEcol Consulting Ltd.)
Proceedings | 16th International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conference (IHLRWM 2017) | Charlotte, NC, April 9-13, 2017 | Pages 121-127
BIOPROTA is an international forum addressing key issues in biosphere aspects of assessment of the long-term impact of contaminant releases associated with disposal of radioactive waste. Membership includes operators, regulators, technical support organizations and academic institutions from N. America, Europe and Asia. The overall objective is to provide a forum for sharing and exploring the best sources of information to justify modelling assumptions made within long-term radiological assessments. Particular emphasis is placed on key data required for the assessment of long-lived contaminant migration and accumulation in the biosphere, and the associated radiological or other impact, following their discharge or release to the surface environment. Priorities are driven by assessment needs identified from previous and on-going assessment projects. Where common needs are identified within different assessment projects in different countries, a common effort is applied to finding solutions. A wide variety of published output has been produced since the forum’s inception in 2002, and is made freely available at www.bioprota.org. This paper presents information on the most recent and on-going collaborative project activities. These include: approaches to representing the geosphere-biosphere interface so as to provide a coherent explanation of contaminant dispersion in the near-surface environment; selection of appropriate spatial and temporal scales for people and wildlife in long-term safety assessments; improving confidence in dose assessments for C-14 based on model-data comparison exercises; a study of issues affecting the assessment of impacts of disposal of radioactive and hazardous waste, with the aim of development and application of more consistent assessment methods for disposal of wastes presenting both chemical and radiological hazards; and review and enhancement of the IAEA’s Reference Biospheres Methodology, taking account of a wide range of scientific, regulatory and methodological developments since the Methodology was published in 2003.
