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
Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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
ANS 2025 election is open
The American Nuclear Society election is now open. Members can vote for the Society’s next vice president/president-elect and treasurer as well as six board members (four U.S. directors, one non-U.S. director, and one student director). Completed ballots must be submitted by 1:00 p.m. (EDT) on Tuesday, April 15, 2025.
George E. Apostolakis
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 53 | Number 2 | February 1974 | Pages 141-152
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE74-A23340
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This is a theoretical investigation of the accuracy of conventional point kinetics in a multiregion reactor without feedback. The fundamental assumption of point kinetics is the splitting of the neutron density into a product of a known constant shape function and an unknown amplitude function. The model cannot acount for the distortion of the shape of the neutron distribution due to space-dependent perturbations and this results in an error in reactivity. It is to this error that bounds are derived. This is done by using the method of weighted residuals to reduce the original eigenvalue problem to that of a real asymmetric matrix. Theorems from matrix algebra are then used to find disks in the complex plane where the eigenvalues are contained. The radii of the disks depend on the perturbation in a simple manner. Examples of space-dependent step and ramp insertion of reactivity in slab reactors demonstrate the usefulness of the bound.