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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
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Chester D. Kylstra and Robert E. Uhrig
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 22 | Number 2 | June 1965 | Pages 191-205
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE65-A20238
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The concept of a transfer function for a nuclear system is extended to include spatial effects. The general equation is derived using the time-dependent Fermi age and diffusion theories for a single-region, isotropic, homogeneous medium. The fluctuations of the thermal-neutron density at any point in the assembly is related to the variation of the fast-neutron source. The general transfer function equation is specialized for several cases, including the case of a point source in a cylindrical medium. Theoretical curves are calculated for multiplying and non-multiplying media and compared with the commonly used lumped-parameter transfer function. The results indicate, in general, that the lumped-parameter model predicts the correct behavior of the nuclear system only if the output detector is carefully positioned at a specific distance from the source. If the detector is located elsewhere, the lumped-parameter model is not capable of accurate results. The theoretical equations were used to calculate the spatially dependent transfer function between two detectors (the cross-transfer function) that were located within light- and heavy-water subcritical assemblies, simulating some experimental measurements. A comparison of the experimental and theoretical transfer functions indicate that the Fermi age, diffusion theory model might be quite adequate in describing the kinetics of a nuclear system.