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
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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
Reboot: Nuclear needs a success . . . anywhere
The media have gleefully resurrected the language of a past nuclear renaissance. Beyond the hype and PR, many people in the nuclear community are taking a more measured view of conditions that could lead to new construction: data center demand, the proliferation of new reactor designs and start-ups, and the sudden ascendance of nuclear energy as the power source everyone wants—or wants to talk about.
Once built, large nuclear reactors can provide clean power for at least 80 years—outlasting 10 to 20 presidential administrations. Smaller reactors can provide heat and power outputs tailored to an end user’s needs. With all the new attention, are we any closer to getting past persistent supply chain and workforce issues and building these new plants? And what will the election of Donald Trump to a second term as president mean for nuclear?
As usual, there are more questions than answers, and most come down to money. Several developers are engaging with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or have already applied for a license, certification, or permit. But designs without paying customers won’t get built. So where are the customers, and what will it take for them to commit?
J. A. Grundl, V. Spiegel, C. M. Eisenhauer, H. T. Heaton II, D. M. Gilliam, J. Bigelow
Nuclear Technology | Volume 32 | Number 3 | March 1977 | Pages 315-319
Technical Paper | Radioisotope | doi.org/10.13182/NT77-A31755
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Spontaneous fission sources of 252Cf, lightly encapsulated and with neutron source strengths approaching 1010 n/s, have been developed especially for integral cross-section measurements and neutron reaction rate calibrations. An irradiation facility at the National Bureau of Standards makes use of these sources in two well-investigated geometries. A free-field neutron flux in the range of 107 n/(cm2 s) (105 n/mm2 · s) and fluences of up to 1013 n/cm2 (1011 n/mm2) are established at the facility based only on a distance measurement and the absolute source strength of the national standard Ra-Be photoneutron source. The error in the 252Cf source strength (±1.1%) dominates the total free-field flux uncertainty of ±1.4% (1σ). Neutron scattering effects in the source capsule and support structures and neutron return from concrete and earth boundaries have been calculated and investigated experimentally. In the worst case, they contribute ±0.7% to the total flux response uncertainty for all observed neutron reaction rates, including those with sensitivity to low-energy neutrons.
