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
Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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
Mar 2025
Jul 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
March 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
February 2025
Latest News
NRC begins special inspection at Hope Creek
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is conducting a special inspection at Hope Creek nuclear plant in New Jersey to investigate the cause of repeated inoperability of one of the plant’s emergency diesel generators, the agency announced in a February 25 news release.
R. T. Santoro, R. G. Alsmiller, Jr., J. M. Barnes, G. T. Chapman
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 78 | Number 3 | July 1981 | Pages 259-272
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE81-A20303
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Integral experiments that measure the transport of ∼14-MeV deuterium-tritium (D-T) neutrons through laminated slabs of proposed fusion reactor shield materials have been carried out at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Measured and calculated neutron and gamma-ray energy spectra are compared as a function of the thickness and composition of Type 304 stainless steel, borated polyethylene (BP), and Hevimet (a tungsten alloy), and as a function of detector position behind these materials. The measured data were obtained by means of an NE-213 liquid scintillator using pulse-shape discrimination methods to resolve neutron and gamma-ray pulse-height data and spectral unfolding methods to convert these data to energy spectra. The calculated data were obtained using two-dimensional discrete-ordinates radiation transport methods in a complex calculational network that takes into account the energy-angle dependence of the D-T neutrons and the nonphysical anomalies of the Sn method. The transport calculations incorporate ENDF/B-IV cross-section data from the VITAMIN C data library. The measured and calculated neutron energy spectra are in good agreement behind slab configurations of Type 304 stainless steel and BP (∼10% for all neutron energies >850 keV). When 5 cm of Hevimet are added to a 45-cm-thick Type 304 stainless steel plus BP slab assembly, the agreement is less favorable. The agreement among the measured and calculated gamma-ray spectra for energies >750 keV ranges from ∼25% to a factor of ∼5 depending on the slab composition.