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
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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Latest News
Senate committee hears from energy secretary nominee Chris Wright
Chris Wright, president-elect Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Energy, spent hours today fielding questions from members of the U.S. Senate’s committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
During the hearing, Wright—who’s spent most of his career in fossil fuels—made comments in support of nuclear energy and efforts to expand domestic generation in the near future. Asked what actions he would take as energy secretary to improve the development and deployment of SMRs, Wright said: “It’s a big challenge, and I’m new to government, so I can’t list off the five levers I can pull. But (I’ve been in discussions) about how to make it easier to research, to invest, to build things. The DOE has land at some of its facilities that can be helpful in this regard.”
Felix C. Difilippo
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 142 | Number 2 | October 2002 | Pages 140-149
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE02-A2294
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The analysis of the fluctuations of signals coming from detectors in the vicinity of a subcritical assembly of fissile materials is commonly used for the control and safeguard of nuclear materials and might be used for the surveillance of an accelerator driven system. One of the stochastic techniques is the measurement of the probability distributions of counts in time intervals t (gates); the departure of the ratio of the variance and the mean value with respect to 1 (the correlation) is directly related to the amount of fissile material and its subcriticality. The measurement of this correlation is affected by dead-time effects due to count losses because of the finite-time resolution of the detection system. We present a theory that allows (a) the calculation of the probability of losing n counts (P(n)) in gate t, (b) the definition of experimental conditions under which P(2) << P(1), and (c) a methodology to correct the measured correlation because of losing one count in any gate. The theory is applied to the analysis of experiments performed in a highly enriched subcritical assembly.
