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
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
WIPP improves utility shaft safety, begins infrastructure project
Harrison Western Shaft Sinkers (HWSS), the company drilling a new utility shaft at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, has retained a safety culture expert following a near-miss accident in the shaft late last year. The safety expert will conduct monthly facilitated discussions with crews working on the shaft to reinforce expectations for identifying concerns regarding unsafe circumstances, according to a recent report by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB).
Helio C. Vital,* F. M. Clikeman, K. O. Ott
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 96 | Number 2 | June 1987 | Pages 102-111
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE87-A16370
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Fission rate measurements were performed in the Purdue Fast Breeder Blanket Facility (FBBF) and compared with two-dimensional 50-group diffusion calculations on an absolute basis. Fission rates in 239Pu, 235U, 237Np, 238U, and 232Th were measured using fused quartz fission track recorders. Calculations using the 1DX and 2DB codes, and the LIB-IV nuclear data library were compared with the measurements in the form of reaction rate calculated-to-experiment (C/E) trajectories. The investigations were aimed at providing an improved understanding and description of the high-energy neutron fluxes and reaction rate distributions. Also investigated were previously reported C/E reaction rate discrepancies in the blanket. Detailed analysis of the fine structure in the fission rate C/E trajectories, which drop off with increasing radius similar to previously reported C/E deviations, indicates that the transmission of neutrons through the blanket is being underpredicted to a greater degree at higher energies. Different C/E trajectories were found for different blanket configurations of the FBBF. Special computational studies, allowing fast neutron transmission and in situ effects to be separated, provided information on the sources of discrepancies.