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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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
Dec 2025
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
January 2026
Nuclear Technology
December 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
November 2025
Latest News
AI at work: Southern Nuclear’s adoption of Copilot agents drives fleet forward
Southern Nuclear is leading the charge in artificial intelligence integration, with employee-developed applications driving efficiencies in maintenance, operations, safety, and performance.
The tools span all roles within the company, with thousands of documented uses throughout the fleet, including improved maintenance efficiency, risk awareness in maintenance activities, and better-informed decision-making. The data-intensive process of preparing for and executing maintenance operations is streamlined by leveraging AI to put the right information at the fingertips for maintenance leaders, planners, schedulers, engineers, and technicians.
Anatoly N. Shmelev, Gennady G. Kulikov, Eduard F. Kryuchkov, Vladimir A. Apse, Evgeny G. Kulikov
Nuclear Technology | Volume 183 | Number 3 | September 2013 | Pages 409-426
Technical Paper | Enrichment | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-A19429
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
As a rule, materials of small atomic weight (light and heavy water, graphite, and so on) are used as neutron moderators and reflectors. A new very heavy atomic weight moderator is proposed - radiogenic lead consisting mainly of isotope 208Pb. It is characterized by extremely small neutron radiative capture cross section ([approximately]0.23 mb for thermal neutrons, i.e., less than that for graphite and deuterium) and highest albedo of thermal neutrons.The use of radiogenic lead to make it possible to slow down the chain fission reaction on prompt neutrons in a fast reactor is evaluated. This can improve the safety of a fast reactor.It is noteworthy that radiogenic lead with high 208Pb content may be recovered from thorium (as well as thorium-uranium) ores without isotope separation. This has been confirmed experimentally by the investigations performed at the University of São Paulo in Brazil.
