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
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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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Latest News
Article considers incorporation of AI into nuclear power plant operations
The potential application of artificial intelligence to the operation of nuclear power plants is explored in an article published in late December in the Washington Examiner. The article, written by energy and environment reporter Callie Patteson, presents the views of a number of experts, including Yavuz Arik, a strategic energy consultant.
Marko Maucec, Matjaz Ravnik, Bogdan Glumac
Nuclear Technology | Volume 122 | Number 3 | June 1998 | Pages 255-264
Technical Paper | Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT98-A2867
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A criticality safety study of various forms of multiplying medium based on RBMK-1000 fuel elements is presented. The calculations were performed with the Los Alamos National Laboratory Monte Carlo MCNP4B code. Continuous energy cross-section data have been taken from the ENDF/B-VI and ENDF/B-V libraries and S(,) scattering functions from the ENDF/B-IV library. A detailed three-dimensional model of the RBMK fuel element has been developed. A set of parametric calculations was performed for some hypothetical fuel conditions with the infinite model of storage lattice. Multiplying properties of homogenized mixture of fuel and moderator were also analyzed. Certain combinations of moderator (graphite-water mixture) and fuel may yield a significantly increased multiplication factor with respect to normal reactor lattice conditions. MCNP calculations were performed for fresh fuel conditions. The reduction of the multiplication factor due to burnup up to 20 GWd/TU was estimated using the WIMS/D-5 code for lattice-cell conditions. It was observed that the multiplication factor (kinf or keff) does not exceed unity if the burnup is taken into account regardless of the assumptions on the fuel conditions.
