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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
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
New laws offer nuclear industry incentives for existing power plant uprates
This year, the U.S. nuclear industry received a much-needed economic boost that could help preserve operating nuclear power plants and incentivize upgrades that extend their lifespan and power output.
Signed into law in 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act offers production tax credits (PTCs) for existing nuclear power plants and either PTCs or investment tax credits (ITCs) for new carbon-free generation. These credits could make power uprates—increasing the maximum power level at which a commercial plant may operate—a much more appealing option for utilities.
L. W. Nordheim
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 12 | Number 4 | April 1962 | Pages 457-463
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE62-A26091
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A new method for the calculation of resonance integrals for both homogeneous and heterogeneous assemblies has been developed and programmed for the IBM-7090. It consists in a direct numerical solution of the integral equation for the average flux in the absorber, and obviates the necessity of choosing between the narrow and wide resonance approximations. Cross sections are calculated, inclusive of Doppler broadening, interference scattering, and the E−1/2 factor in the absorption cross section. The unresolved resonances are calculated in the narrow resonance approximation under consideration of the Porter-Thomas distribution of neutron widths. Available options include (1) choice of geometry—spherical, cylindrical, slab, and homogeneous; (2) Dancoff correction for absorbers of arbitrary transparency; and (3) integral treatment of admixed scatterers. The only input data required are the resonance parameters and specifications of temperature, composition, and geometry. Everything else is handled automatically. The program calculates directly the cases of interest without requiring any additional data handling. Resonance integrals have been computed for uranium and thorium metal and UO2 and ThO2 rods of various diameters and different temperatures. Quantitative agreement with the best available measurements is reached for U238, with respect to the absolute values of the resonance integrals, as well as with respect to their temperature dependence. An interesting new result is that the intergral treatment of the oxygen in UO2 gives a noticeable correction to the resonance integral for thick absorber rods. For Th232, the agreement is not quite as perfect. The differences can, however, be traced to inconsistencies in the available cross section data.