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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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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Proving DRACO will deliver
The United States is now closer than it has been in over five decades to launching the first nuclear thermal rocket into space, thanks to DRACO—the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Orbit.
I. J. Thompson, Y. M. X. M. Dardenne, J. M. Kenneally, A. Robertson, L. E. Ahle, C. A. Hagmann, R. A. Henderson, D. Vogt, C.-Y. Wu, W. Younes
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 171 | Number 2 | June 2012 | Pages 85-135
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE10-101
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Because of the importance of accurate data for fission chain yields (FCYs) for many applications, we present a rigorous “clean sheet” evaluation of all available data to provide an accurate set of pertinent FCYs. Because some nuclear data (e.g., half-lives, branching ratios, etc.) have been refined since the original analyses, where possible we update the data and their associated uncertainties. This evaluation is particularly topical since there are differences in the nuclear data used by radiochemists at different laboratories internationally and since some experiments from the 1970s have been recently reexamined with details published for the first time.The focus of this work is the production of a small set of fission products (95Zr, 99Mo, 144Ce, 147Nd) from plutonium irradiated by fission spectrum neutrons. Because 147Nd is a common isotope used at several laboratories, its production rate is examined critically. We find that most of the interlaboratory discrepancies can be explained by a dependence of its yield on the energy of the neutron causing fission, so we consider in detail the statistical significance of this claim. The potential for neutron energy dependence of 147Nd production from plutonium was first recognized in 1977 by Maeck and recently raised again as a possibility by Chadwick. The data for 95Zr, by contrast, demonstrate no statistically significant energy-dependence trends, but the data at the higher energies demonstrate significant scatter.With the relatively small number of data points, and recognizing that measurement methods and technologies have likely significantly improved in the nearly 30 years since the last measurement, additional measurements to refine the assessment and improve the uncertainties may be warranted.