ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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
February 2025
Nuclear Technology
January 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Is waste really waste?
Tim Tinsley
I’ve been reflecting on the recent American Nuclear Society Winter Conference and Expo, where I enjoyed the discussion on recycling used nuclear fuel to recover valuable minerals or products for future applications. I have spent more than 30 years focusing on dissolving and separating nuclear material, so it was refreshing to hear the case for new applications being made. However, I feel that these discussions could go further still.
Radiation is energy, something that our society seems to have an endless need for. A nuclear power station produces a lot of radiation that is mostly discarded. But once fuel has been used, it still produces significant levels of radiation and heat energy. The associated storage, processing, and eventual disposal of this used fuel requires careful management and investment to protect systems and people from the radiation. Should we really disregard—and discard—this energy source, along with all the valuable minerals in the used fuel, when we could instead use it to deliver significant value to society?
Song Hyun Kim, Do Hyun Kim, Jong Kyung Kim, Jea Man Noh
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 178 | Number 1 | September 2014 | Pages 29-41
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE13-38
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In order to avoid calculation bias and increase calculation efficiency, convergence of the fission source distribution (FSD) in Monte Carlo simulations is important. Numerous analysis methods have been developed and used for checking the fission source convergence. However, such schemes have low applicability to Monte Carlo codes or give low diagnostic accuracy. To address these limitations, a method to verify the fission source convergence using the average and standard deviation of fission source positions is proposed. To collect the fission site information, the MCNP5 code was modified, and position information was extracted. The accuracy and advantages of the proposed method were verified by solving Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/Nuclear Energy Agency benchmark problems with the modified MCNP5 code and comparing the results to those obtained with the Shannon entropy and the nine center distance sum approaches. The analysis shows that the proposed method has good applicability and exhibits high accuracy for verifying the convergence of the FSD. It is expected that the proposed scheme will be a valuable contribution to the field of the fission source convergence.