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
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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.
Franco Vittorio Frazzoli, Romolo Remetti, Sergio Guardini, Valeri Maiorov
Nuclear Technology | Volume 126 | Number 2 | May 1999 | Pages 205-214
Technical Paper | Reprocessing | doi.org/10.13182/NT99-A2968
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The presence of Pu X-ray peaks in the gamma spectrum of Pu-bearing materials [for example, PuO2 and mixed-oxide (MOX) samples] is commonly attributed to alpha and gamma excitation. The aim of this work is the development of a mathematical model, based on the "thick target yield" approach, for both alpha- and gamma-induced fluorescence processes, thus enabling the quantification of the relative importance of these effects and the interpretation of the experimental data.Experimental data obtained at the Performance Laboratory (European Commission, Joint Research Center, Ispra, Italy) from well-characterized PuO2 and MOX samples under well-defined experimental conditions are compared with the expected values based on the model developed, taking into account special self-attenuation of X rays from induced effects.Finally, a feasible application of the model is considered concerning the field of nuclear material accountancy and control; the possibility of inferring U and Pu concentrations in MOX from the normalized Pu K-shell X-ray counting rate is considered, and the expected performances are given.