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
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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!
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February 2025
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Latest News
IEA report: Challenges need to be resolved to support global nuclear energy growth
The International Energy Agency published a new report this month outlining how continued innovation, government support, and new business models can unleash nuclear power expansion worldwide.
The Path to a New Era for Nuclear Energy report “reviews the status of nuclear energy around the world and explores risks related to policies, construction, and financing.”
Find the full report at IEA.org.
William E. Kastenberg, Paul L. Chambré
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 31 | Number 1 | January 1968 | Pages 67-79
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE68-A18009
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The spatial and temporal behavior of neutron distributions governed by the nonlinear diffusion equation approximation to neutron transport theory are considered in this paper. Stability criteria for the equilibrium states of various reactor feedback models are determined by the method of comparison functions. The comparison functions are used to construct simple solutions with error bounds to the equations considered. The two reactor models considered are the prompt feedback and the adiabatic model. The stability of the equilibrium state was found to be governed by the generalized buckling κ and its relationship to μ the lowest eigenvalue of the associated linear Helmholtz equation. Negative feedback is considered in both cases. Since the comparison functions bound the true solution from above and below, one can determine absolute errors of the approximations involved when constructing solutions. In a similar fashion, a bound on the maximum value of the excursion can also be obtained with little extra effort.