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2026 Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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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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What’s the most difficult question you’ve been asked as a maintenance instructor?
Blye Widmar
"Where are the prints?!"
This was the final question in an onslaught of verbal feedback, comments, and critiques I received from my students back in 2019. I had two years of instructor experience and was teaching a class that had been meticulously rehearsed in preparation for an accreditation visit. I knew the training material well and transferred that knowledge effectively enough for all the students to pass the class. As we wrapped up, I asked the students how they felt about my first big system-level class, and they did not hold back.
“Why was the exam from memory when we don’t work from memory in the plant?” “Why didn’t we refer to the vendor documents?” “Why didn’t we practice more on the mock-up?” And so on.
F. T. Gould, T. I. Taylor, W. W. Havens, Jr., B. M. Rustad, E. Melkonian
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 8 | Number 6 | December 1960 | Pages 453-466
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE60-A25832
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The absorption cross sections of gold and boron have been measured at long neutron wavelengths with a single crystal spectrometer. Mica along with microcrystalline filters of Be and BeO was used as a monochromator for the wavelength range from 4 to 8.75 Å, and for longer wavelengths a mechanical monochromator was used to remove second and higher order neutrons. Neutron beams with negligible higher order contamination were obtained with a wavelength resolution Δλ/λ of 0.018. The total cross section of gold for wavelengths from 5 to 11.5 Å is σt = (54.56 ± 0.09) λ (0.46 ± 0.67) barns. Evaluation of the thermal neutron (2200 m/sec) absorption cross sections gave (98.8 ± 0.3) barns for gold and (7.56 ± 6) barns for boron in glass plates for use as secondary standards.
