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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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
Jul 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
August 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Deep Space: The new frontier of radiation controls
In commercial nuclear power, there has always been a deliberate tension between the regulator and the utility owner. The regulator fundamentally exists to protect the worker, and the utility, to make a profit. It is a win-win balance.
From the U.S. nuclear industry has emerged a brilliantly successful occupational nuclear safety record—largely the result of an ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) process that has driven exposure rates down to what only a decade ago would have been considered unthinkable. In the U.S. nuclear industry, the system has accomplished an excellent, nearly seamless process that succeeds to the benefit of both employee and utility owner.
Tetsuo Sawada, Hisashi Ninokata, Hirofumi Tomozoe, Hiroshi Endo
Nuclear Technology | Volume 130 | Number 3 | June 2000 | Pages 242-251
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT130-242
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An outline is given of simple evaluation models for a recriticality in an attempt to construct a fast reactor core that has high potential to terminate an accident and prevent its progression, under postulated core-damage conditions, into further disruption of the degraded core and into possible recriticality leading to an energetic power excursion. The basic idea to prevent recriticality events is to remove a certain amount of fuel material out of the core in order to keep the core subcritical. Based on the simplified models, general guidelines are given that minimize the amount of fuel removal necessary to avoid recriticality events. Multigroup two-dimensional diffusion calculations are also performed to ascertain the tendency obtained by the simple model for the reactivity insertion due to a core collapse. In the sense of controlled material relocation, the fraction of core materials is identified that should be preferentially removed out of the core to eliminate the recriticality potential.