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
Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
John C. Wagner, Alireza Haghighat, Bojan G. Petrovic
Nuclear Technology | Volume 114 | Number 3 | June 1996 | Pages 373-398
Technical Paper | Radiation Protection | doi.org/10.13182/NT96-A35241
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The application of Monte Carlo methods for reactor pressure vessel (RPV) neutron fluence calculations is examined. As many commercial nuclear light water reactors approach the end of their design lifetime, it is of great consequence that reactor operators and regulators be able to characterize the structural integrity of the RPV accurately for financial reasons, as well as safety reasons, due to the possibility of plant life extensions. The Monte Carlo method, which offers explicit three-dimensional geometric representation and continuous energy and angular simulation, is well suited for this task. A model of the Three Mile Island unit 1 reactor is presented for determination of RPV fluence; Monte Carlo (MCNP) and deterministic (DORT) results are compared for this application; and numerous issues related to performing these calculations are examined. Synthesized three-dimensional deterministic models are observed to produce results that are comparable to those of Monte Carlo methods, provided the two methods utilize the same cross-section libraries. Continuous energy Monte Carlo methods are shown to predict more (15 to 20%) high-energy neutrons in the RPV than deterministic methods.
