The Oak Ridge/Knoxville ANS Section was established on April 18, 1958. On March 25, 1981, the Oak Ridge/Knoxville Section of the American Nuclear Society was incorporated. The section has over 80 active members and offers a variety of programs and activities for the members as well as the community at large. OR/K ANS is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

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Our Mission

The main objectives of the American Nuclear Society are the advancement of science and engineering relating to the atomic nucleus, and of allied sciences and arts, and the integration of the scientific disciplines constituting nuclear science and technology.

- ANS Local Section Charter

History

Contributed by Peggy Emmett

In 1954 the American Nuclear Society (ANS) was formed by a group of professionals working in the nuclear industry in various parts of the country. There was a core group of the founding members in Oak Ridge; Dr. Grigorieff, who was working in Oak Ridge, was named Executive Director. Since the position of Executive Director was a part-time job, he opened the ANS staff office here in Oak Ridge. About 18 months later, Dr. Grigorieff accepted an assignment with IAEA in Vienna, Austria. At that time, Octave Du Temple was named Executive Director. He came from Chicago to Oak Ridge and stayed for about a month before moving the ANS office to Chicago. The Oak Ridge/Knoxville Section of ANS was chartered on October 30, 1957. Later, on March 15, 1976, the charter was reissued. This was apparently due to the fact that the Section had not been very active and some local people did not realize it existed. However, ANS Headquarters did not consider that there has been any lapse in the Section's existence because in 1983 they issued a certificate commemorating 25 years of continuous service. The Section was incorporated under Tennessee law in 1981. During the past decades, the Section has specialized in supporting education and public information on the peaceful uses of nuclear technology. It developed two major exhibits for the 1982 and 1984 World Fair's. Elementary- and secondary school level textbooks were developed to complement standard texts in general science and social studies. Annually, the Section conducts teacher workshops, awards an undergraduate scholarship to the University of Tennessee Nuclear Engineering Department and sponsors student participation in Engineer's Week and the ANS national student conferences. The Section has organized and conducted numerous ANS topical meetings, and it was the host section for the ANS Annual Meeting in 1990. The Graphite Reactor is the second ANS Nuclear Historic Landmark sponsored by the Section, the first being the K-25 gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment facility. Recently, The Oak Ridge Electron Linear Accelerator facility (ORELA) was also named an ANS Historic Landmark.