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
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Aug 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
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.
F. H. Fröhner
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 106 | Number 3 | November 1990 | Pages 345-352
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE89-177
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Recent measurements define the prompt fission neutron spectrum of 252Cf from 25 keV to 20 MeV with sufficient accuracy to show that the standard representation by a Maxwell spectrum with the temperature parameter TM = 1.42 MeV is not adequate. The next simplest macroscopic representation, a Watt spectrum with the two parameters Tw = 1.18 MeV and Ew = 0.36 MeV, fits the recent data surprisingly well, at least as well as the best currently available microscopic models of fission neutron emission. The resulting chi-square does not indicate any need for a more sophisticated description, nor is the fit improved by refinements such as superposition of two Watt distributions (for a representative fragment pair), or relativistic corrections.