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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
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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
Commercial nuclear innovation "new space" age
In early 2006, a start-up company launched a small rocket from a tiny island in the Pacific. It exploded, showering the island with debris. A year later, a second launch attempt sent a rocket to space but failed to make orbit, burning up in the atmosphere. Another year brought a third attempt—and a third failure. The following month, in September 2008, the company used the last of its funds to launch a fourth rocket. It reached orbit, making history as the first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket to do so.
Lucas P. Tucker, Shoaib Usman, Ayodeji Alajo
Nuclear Technology | Volume 194 | Number 1 | April 2016 | Pages 97-110
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NT15-67
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Missouri University of Science and Technology Subcritical Assembly has been brought back into service and upgraded with a new neutron detection system and Internet accessibility. Before the upgrade, neutron counting was possible in only one location. Using a movable detection system housed in acrylic tubes, measurements can now be taken in any empty fuel location and at any height within the tube, making three-dimensional flux mapping possible. By connecting the new detection system to a Canberra Lynx Digital Signal Analyzer, remote users can have limited data-collecting capabilities. To further enhance the potential of the facility, a Monte Carlo N-Particle transport code (MCNP) model of the subcritical assembly was created and validated by comparing its simulated predictions to experiments conducted at the facility. An approach to the criticality experiment using the 1/M approximation showed that the MCNP model accurately predicts keff if the detectors are placed between 27 and 36 cm from the neutron source. The results of an axial flux measurement experiment taken 20.3 cm from the neutron source differed from the MCNP-simulated results by an average of 12%. Finally, the validated MCNP model was used to show the effect of removing the facility’s fixed detector tube and redistributing its fuel. MCNP simulation predicts that the new configuration would increase the multiplication factor from 0.73481 ± 0.00008 to 0.76844 ± 0.00004.