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
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
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
Aug 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2024
Latest News
New laws offer nuclear industry incentives for existing power plant uprates
This year, the U.S. nuclear industry received a much-needed economic boost that could help preserve operating nuclear power plants and incentivize upgrades that extend their lifespan and power output.
Signed into law in 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act offers production tax credits (PTCs) for existing nuclear power plants and either PTCs or investment tax credits (ITCs) for new carbon-free generation. These credits could make power uprates—increasing the maximum power level at which a commercial plant may operate—a much more appealing option for utilities.
M. B. Chadwick, P. G. Young, S. Chiba, S. C. Frankle, G. M. Hale, H. G. Hughes, A. J. Koning, R. C. Little, R. E. MacFarlane, R. E. Prael, L. S. Waters
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 131 | Number 3 | March 1999 | Pages 293-328
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE98-48
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
New accelerator-driven technologies that utilize spallation neutrons, such as the production of tritium and the transmutation of radioactive waste, require accurate nuclear data to model the performance of the target/blanket assembly and to predict neutron production, activation, heating, shielding requirements, and material damage. To meet these needs, nuclear-data evaluations and libraries up to 150 MeV have been developed for use in transport calculations to guide engineering design. By using advanced nuclear models that account for details of nuclear structure and the quantum nature of the nuclear scattering, significant gains in accuracy can be achieved below 150 MeV, where intranuclear cascade calculations become less accurate. Evaluations are in ENDF-6 format for important target/blanket and shielding materials (isotopes of H, C, N, O, Al, Si, P, Ca, Cr, Fe, Ni, Cu, Nb, W, Hg, and Pb) for both incident neutrons and incident protons. The evaluations are based on measured data as well as predictions from the GNASH nuclear model code, which calculates cross sections using Hauser-Feshbach, exciton, and Feshbach-Kerman-Koonin preequilibrium models. Elastic scattering distributions and direct reactions are calculated from the optical model. All evaluations specify production cross sections and energy-angle correlated spectra of secondary light particles as well as production cross sections and energy distributions of heavy recoils and gamma rays. A formalism developed to calculate recoil energy distributions is presented. The use of these nuclear data in the MCNPX radiation transport code is also briefly described. This code merges essential elements of the LAHET and MCNP codes and uses these new data below 150 MeV and intranuclear cascade collision physics at higher energies. Extensive comparisons are shown between the evaluated results and experimental cross-section data to benchmark and validate the evaluated library. In addition, integral benchmarks of calculated and measured kerma coefficients for neutron energy deposition and neutron transmission through an iron slab compared with MCNPX calculations are provided. These evaluations have been accepted into the ENDF/B-VI library as Release 6.