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
Mathematics & Computation
Division members promote the advancement of mathematical and computational methods for solving problems arising in all disciplines encompassed by the Society. They place particular emphasis on numerical techniques for efficient computer applications to aid in the dissemination, integration, and proper use of computer codes, including preparation of computational benchmark and development of standards for computing practices, and to encourage the development on new computer codes and broaden their use.
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
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.”
Aljaž Čufar, Bor Kos, Ivan Aleksander Kodeli, Igor Lengar, Žiga Štancar, Luka Snoj
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 71 | Number 2 | February 2017 | Pages 162-176
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST16-113
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The application of the Automated Variance Reduction Generator (ADVANTG) code to accelerate MCNP neutron transport calculations in fusion-relevant geometries is presented. The ADVANTG code generates variance-reduction parameters using the Consistent Adjoint Driven Importance Sampling (CADIS) and Forward-Weighted Consistent Adjoint Driven Importance Sampling (FW-CADIS) methods based on deterministic transport calculations performed by the discrete ordinates code Denovo. The aim of ADVANTG is to reduce the MCNP computational time by automating the process of variance-reduction parameter generation. ADVANTG was tested on a simplified model of a JET-like tokamak that in spite of its simplicity retains all the major characteristics of such a tokamak. The performance of the nuclear data libraries provided with ADVANTG and of various other ADVANTG/Denovo settings on variance-reduction efficiency was tested. Several cases using deuterium-deuterium or deuterium-tritium (D-T) volumetric (plasma) sources and 252Cf or D-T point neutron sources were analyzed to find guidelines for successful use of the code for fusion applications. Additionally, the use of ADVANTG as a tool to identify major neutron pathways from the neutron source to the detector is demonstrated.
