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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.
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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!
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Latest News
Katy Huff reflects on her time in the Office of Nuclear Energy
After three years in the Department of Energy, including two as assistant secretary of the Office of Nuclear Energy, Katy Huff stepped down in May to return to the world of academia as a professor at the University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign.
Among her many accomplishments while serving as NE-1, Huff pushed for energy security—both at home and abroad, in places like war-torn Ukraine—and for the development of additional advanced and traditional nuclear plants, the potential restart of shuttered nuclear facilities, and a better funding stream for college nuclear programs.
Kiyonobu Yamashita, Kazumi Tokuhara, Nozomu Fujimoto
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 126 | Number 1 | May 1997 | Pages 94-100
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE97-A24460
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A concept for a new reactor system is developed where weapons-grade plutonium can be made worthless for weapons use. It is a pebble bed-type high-temperature gas-cooled reactor that uses plutonium burner ball and thorium breeder ball fuels. The residual amount of 239Pu in spent plutonium balls becomes <1% of the initial loading. The power coefficient is made negative by reducing the parasitic neutron absorption reaction rate of l35Xe.