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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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
Sep 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
October 2025
Latest News
Shifting the paradigm of supply chain
Chad Wolf
When I began my nuclear career, I was coached up in the nuclear energy culture of the day to “run silent, run deep,” a mindset rooted in the U.S. Navy’s submarine philosophy. That was the norm—until Fukushima.
The nuclear renaissance that many had envisioned hit a wall. The focus shifted from expansion to survival. Many utility communications efforts pivoted from silence to broadcast, showcasing nuclear energy’s elegance and reliability. Nevertheless, despite being clean baseload 24/7 power that delivered a 90 percent capacity factor or higher, nuclear energy was painted as risky and expensive (alongside energy policies and incentives that favored renewables).
Economics became a driving force threatening to shutter nuclear power. The Delivering the Nuclear Promise initiative launched in 2015 challenged the industry to sustain high performance yet cut costs by up to 30 percent.
C. B. Bigham
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 59 | Number 1 | January 1976 | Pages 50-52
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE76-A26808
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The fission cross sections for 233U, 235U, 239Pu, and 241Pu reported in 1958 have been revised using the very precise, recently published, specific activities 21 405 ± 20 dpm/µg 233U, 4798.1 ± 3.3 dpm/mg 235U, and 746.19 ± 0.41 dpm/mg 238U. Revised ratios of fission cross sections at 2200 m/sec are: 233U/235U = 0.9142 ± 0.0012, 239Pu/235U = 1.2876 ± 0.0034, 239Pu/ 233U = 1.4084 ± 0.0036, and 241Pu/239Pu = 1.3506 ± 0.007. Revised fission cross sections at 200 m/sec in barns relative to σc(197 Au) = 98.7 ± 0.2 are: σf(233 U) = 527.4 ± 3.1 σf(235 U) = 576.9 ± 3.4, σf(239 Pu) = 742.8 ± 4.4, and σf(241 Pu) = 1003.3 ± 5.2. The errors do not include g-factor errors of ±0.2% for 233U, ±0.155% for 235U, ±0.285% for 239Pu, and ±0.7% for 241Pu.
