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
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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
Jun 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
July 2025
Latest News
World Bank, IAEA partner to fund nuclear energy
The World Bank and the International Atomic Energy Agency signed an agreement last week to cooperate on the construction and financing of advanced nuclear projects in developing countries, marking the first partnership since the bank ended its ban on funding for nuclear energy projects.
Sedat Goluoglu, R. T. Primm III
Nuclear Technology | Volume 139 | Number 1 | July 2002 | Pages 80-88
Technical Note | Criticality of Nuclear Materials | doi.org/10.13182/NT02-A3306
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Criticality of low-enriched-uranium (LEU) and mixed-oxide (MOX) assemblies at the VVER-1000-type Balakovo nuclear power plant is investigated. Effective multiplication factors for fresh fuel assemblies on the railroad platform, fresh fuel assemblies in the within-plant fuel transportation vehicle, and fresh fuel assemblies in the spent fuel storage pool are calculated. If there is no absorber between the units, the configurations with all MOX assemblies result in higher effective multiplication factors than the configurations with all LEU assemblies when the system is dry. When the systems are flooded, the configurations with all LEU assemblies result in higher effective multiplication factors. For normal operating conditions, effective multiplication factors for all configurations are below the presumed upper subcritical limit of 0.95. For an accident condition of a fully loaded within-plant fuel transportation vehicle that is "flooded" with low-density water (possibly from a fire suppression system), the presumed upper subcritical limit is exceeded by configurations containing either LEU or a combination of LEU and MOX assemblies.