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
Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Jan 2025
Jul 2024
Latest Journal Issues
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?
Adimir dos Santos, Ricardo Diniz
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 178 | Number 4 | December 2014 | Pages 459-478
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE14-10
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The evaluation of the experiments of the effective delayed neutron parameters and reactivity performed in the IPEN/MB-01 research reactor facility has been successfully accomplished. The evaluated data are of very good quality and fulfill the requirements of a benchmark. The recently released MCNP6 together with the ENDF/B-VII.1, JENDL-4.0, JEFF-3.1.1, ENDF/B-VII.0, and JENDL-3.3 nuclear data libraries has been employed to calculate the effective delayed neutron parameters adopting the benchmark model of the IPEN/MB-01 reactor available in the International Handbook of Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments. The analysis reveals that all these nuclear data libraries produced satisfactory results for βeff, βeff/Λ, and Λ. The same cannot be said for determining the reactivity using the Inhour equation. It was shown that there is a clear tendency to increase the deviation with the absolute value of the reactivity for negative periods. Only JENDL-3.3 and JEFF-3.1.1 produced results that are inside the 3σ range of the benchmark value uncertainty. Specifically for the case of ENDF/B-VII.1, a good part of this discrepancy is due to the decay constant of the first group of delayed neutrons, which is overestimated according to the experimental value measured in the IPEN/MB-01 reactor.
