ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
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
Nov 2024
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
December 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
November 2024
Latest News
History in the making: D&D begins on Three Mile Island-2
Constellation Energy has announced that it will seek to restart Unit 1 of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania as part of an agreement with Microsoft to power that company’s data centers. Given the growing interest by tech companies in using clean, reliable nuclear power to meet their growing energy demands, the September 20 announcement to reopen TMI-1, which was shut down and defueled in 2019, was not a huge surprise.
Philip L. Lafreniere, Devin S. Rappleye, Robert O. Hoover, Michael F. Simpson, Edward D. Blandford
Nuclear Technology | Volume 189 | Number 2 | February 2015 | Pages 173-185
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT14-35
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Signature-based safeguards (SBS) is currently being investigated to assist traditional nuclear material accountancy in tracking special nuclear material (SNM) within a fuel cycle facility. SBS involves the identification and detection of signatures from process monitoring data for off-normal operation scenarios that involve the loss or improper movement of SNM. To determine possible realistic signatures, the electrorefiner (ER) process is modeled using the code Enhanced REFIN with Anodic Deposition (ERAD), and the JCC-31 Neutron Coincidence Counter, a nondestructive assay detector, is simulated using MCNPx-POLIMI. The ERAD model is used to determine the elemental composition of the ER cathode deposit, while the MCNPx model is developed to determine the single and double count rates expected for this deposition using ft8 tallies. For the determination of signatures, changes were made in the ER model for current density and diffusion layer thickness. The signatures in terms of both modeled ER and detector output demonstrate distinct signatures to be expected for off-normal operations. The detector response in particular shows significant changes registered in count rates when plutonium is deposited at the cathode, due to the changes in the simulated ER operating conditions.