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Division Spotlight
Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
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.
Martin R. Williamson, Laurence F. Miller, Indraneel Sen
Nuclear Technology | Volume 177 | Number 3 | March 2012 | Pages 413-420
Technical Paper | Radiation Measurements and General Information | doi.org/10.13182/NT12-A13484
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A methodology for simulating a neutron detector's pulse-height spectra (PHS) utilizing semiempirical equations for the light yield nonproportionality of organic scintillators is described. Using these simulations, suitable material synthesis techniques are established for optimizing the performance of neutron scintillators. A MATLAB program suite was developed to automate the process of generating the PHS by pairing these semiempirical equations with results generated using Monte Carlo radiation transport code (MCNPX) particle track (PTRAC) output files. This is accomplished by first calculating the energy deposited in a detector from each charged-particle reaction product generated from a neutron absorption event by postprocessing the MCNPX PTRAC output files. The energy deposited from each charged particle is then used in semiempirical light yield equations to determine the fluorescent light energy output by each charged particle. Finally, the individual contributions from each charged particle are recombined to accurately simulate the pulse generated from the neutron absorption event.