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
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
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August 2024
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.
P. R. Tunnicliffe, D. J. Skillings, B. G. Chidley
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 15 | Number 3 | March 1963 | Pages 268-283
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE63-A26437
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An experimental method of determining “initial conversion ratios,” the number of Pu239 atoms produced for each U235 atom destroyed, is described. The measurements are made relative to the conversion ratio that would be obtained for thin uranium in a thermal flux. The precision is about ± %. The relative neptunium and fission product activities induced in a representative cross section of the fuel material (a thin foil of natural uranium) and in a foil in a thermal flux are compared. The neptunium is counted by a coincidence method which suppresses the counting rate due to fission products and natural background 10 times relative to the neptunium counting rate.
