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Division Spotlight
Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Ryota Katano
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 193 | Number 4 | April 2019 | Pages 431-439
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2018.1528803
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The linear combination method is proposed to reduce the higher order mode (HOM) effect on the measurement of the prompt neutron decay constant using the α-fitting method. Conventional α-fitting utilizes the pulsed neutron source and estimates the prompt neutron decay constant by fitting the neutron counts at a single detector after pulse injection with a single exponential function. The proposed method reduces the spatial HOM effect with linear combination of the neutron counts at multiple detectors. For verification, we applied the conventional method and the proposed method to the analytical solution of the diffusion theory and the Monte Carlo simulation to estimate the prompt neutron decay constant of a one-dimensional infinite slab. Comparison of these results indicates that the proposed method enables estimation with the reduced HOM effect as opposed to the conventional method. Through the verification, we confirmed that the proposed method can be a candidate for a measurement method of the prompt neutron decay constant.