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
Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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
April 2025
Latest News
Penn State and Westinghouse make eVinci microreactor plan official
Penn State and Westinghouse Electric Company are working together to site a new research reactor on Penn State’s University Park, Pa., campus: Westinghouse’s eVinci, a HALEU TRISO-fueled sodium heat-pipe reactor. Penn State has announced that it submitted a letter of intent to host and operate an eVinci reactor to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on February 28 and plans to engage with the NRC on specific siting decisions. Penn State already boasts the Breazeale reactor, which began operating in 1955 as the first licensed research reactor at a university in the United States. At 70, the Breazeale reactor is still in operation.
W. R. Kimel, W. E. Carey, F. G. Prohammer, G. C. Baldwin
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 6 | Number 3 | September 1959 | Pages 233-237
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE59-A25664
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Theoretical and experimental results of the time behavior of neutron density as a function of both positive and negative step changes in reactivity are presented. The theoretical results are obtained from solutions of the space-independent kinetic equations of a bare thermal reactor based on the Fermi continuous slowing down model and using six groups of delayed neutrons. Theoretical results are given as a function of both positive and negative step changes in reactivity. Experimental results of reactivity worth and of rod calibrations based on pedagogical experiments with the Argonaut Reactor and verifying the theoretical data are presented together with the details of the pedagogical experiment. An analytically constructed thermal flux function obtained from results of reactivity measurements in the reactor is compared with the actual recorded flux from the reactor. Experimental results obtained with the Argonaut Reactor indicate that the theoretical kinetic behavior predicted in this paper are applicable to the actual Argonaut Reactor.