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
Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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
May 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.
Aaron E. Craft, Jeffrey C. King
Nuclear Technology | Volume 184 | Number 2 | November 2013 | Pages 198-209
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-A22315
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The MInes NEutron Radiography facility (MINER facility) installed at the United States Geological Survey TRIGA Reactor provides new capabilities for both researchers and students at the Colorado School of Mines. The facility consists of a number of components, including a neutron beamline and beamstop, an optical table, an experimental enclosure and associated interlocks, a computer control system, a microchannel plate imaging detector, and the associated electronics.Radiographs of a sensitivity indicator - a resolution indicator developed by the American Society for Testing and Materials - taken using both the digital detector and the transfer method provide one demonstration of the radiographic capabilities of the new facility. Calibration fuel pins manufactured using copper and stainless steel surrogate fuel pellets provide additional specimens for demonstration of the new facility and offer a comparison between digital and film radiography at the new facility. The calibration pins contain simulated defects of known dimensions, including pellet-clad gaps, gaps between pellets, and central voids within the pellets. Comparison of the radiographs taken by the two methods reveals that the digital detector does not produce high-quality images when compared to film radiography. Additionally, there are a number of artifacts in the digital images produced by the image acquisition system. The quality of the film images demonstrates that the problems with the digital images are a product of the digital imaging system and not the neutron beam.