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
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
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
First astatine-labeled compound shipped in the U.S.
The Department of Energy’s National Isotope Development Center (NIDC) on March 31 announced the successful long-distance shipment in the United States of a biologically active compound labeled with the medical radioisotope astatine-211 (At-211). Because previous shipments have included only the “bare” isotope, the NIDC has described the development as “unleashing medical innovation.”
J. Richard Smith, John J. King
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 19 | Number 3 | May 1991 | Pages 1925-1930
Neutronic | Proceedings of the Ninth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Oak Brook, Illinois, October 7-11, 1990) | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29623
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Neutron multiplication occurs in beryllium because of the high (n, 2n) cross section. On the basis of calculations made using microscopic nuclear data, multiplication in a beryllium blanket should improve the efficiency of a tritium breeder. Previous experiments have indicated that the net multiplication is too low for beryllium to be an effective neutron multiplier. It seemed appropriate to make a further study of the multiplication of 14-MeV neutrons in bulk beryllium, utilizing the superior isotropy and flat energy response of the manganese bath. In the manganese bath method a 14-MeV neutron source is placed at the center of a large tank containing an aqueous solution of MnSO4. With a beryllium sample surrounding the neutron source in the sample chamber, the neutrons first multiply in beryllium and produce in the manganese bath an activity proportional to the source rate times the multiplication factor. The ratio of the “sample-in” and the “open beam” activities is the raw value of the multiplication. Several systematic corrections must then be applied to deduce the true multiplication in beryllium. Uncorrected values of the multiplication have been obtained for beryllium samples of four thicknesses. For beryllium thicknesses of 4.6, 12.0, 15.6, and 19.9 cm the multiplication values are 1.399, 1.928, 2.072, and 2.126, respectively. These values are affected by several systematic effects characteristic of the manganese bath. The values of these systematic corrections are established by a combination of calculation and experimental parameterization. The detailed calculations use the Monte Carlo program MCNP. The experimental values are in good agreement with those calculated from microscopic cross sections.
