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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.”
A. Boulin, J. F. Haquet, P. Piluso (CEA), S. Semenov, M. Antoni (CNRS), T. Washiya, A. Nakayoshi, T. Kitagaki (JAEA)
Proceedings | Advances in Thermal Hydraulics 2018 | Orlando, FL, November 11-15, 2018 | Pages 1080-1090
In the frame of Severe Accident studies, the VULCANO-facility at PLINIUS-platform (CEA - Cadarache) is devoted to the understanding of the interaction of corium with a concrete containment pit (Molten Corium Concrete Interaction-MCCI) [1]. The VULCANO VF-U1 experiment was designed to be closer as possible of the MCCI conditions possibly occurring in the Fukushima F1 reactor considering the coexistence of two dispersed phases (metallic liquid droplets and gaseous bubbles) in a continuous phase (oxide melt liquid). A MCCI industrial code was used to perform predictive calculation of the VF-U1 experiment, being closer as possible of Fukushima 1-F1 MCCI conditions. The results shown that the axial ablation is 8 times higher than the radial one. Then, a multiplicative factor of 8 for the axial heat exchange coefficient must be applied to find the final cavity shape. VULCANO VF-U1 Post-Test Analyses have shown that the metallic phase is preferably close to the vertical concrete walls and at the bottom of the test section whereas a stratification due to density difference between the oxide and the metallic phase is expected (as modeling by the MCCI code). Regarding to the real coupling physical effects in the integral the VULCANO-ICB test and the difficulties for the MCCI code to reproduce experimental behaviors, numerical simulations were conducted. For this purpose, a multiphase Volume Of Fluid (VOF) code at AMU (MADIREL) has been developed . In these calculations, the corium has been modelled numerically under isothermal conditions as a twodimensional dispersed medium with multiple metal drops and gas bubbles. The results showed a possible hydrodynamic re-localization matching to experimental results.