ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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Apr 2025
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2025
Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Naoya Matsui, Takahiro Maegawa, Kazuyuki Noborio, Ryuta Kasada, Yasushi Yamamoto, Satoshi Konishi
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 64 | Number 3 | September 2013 | Pages 692-696
Test Blanket, Fuel Cycle, and Breeding | Proceedings of the Twentieth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE-2012) (Part 2) Nashville, Tennessee, August 27-31, 2012 | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-A19173
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Neutron transport and energy composition of neutron beam extracted from a cylindrical discharge type fusion device was studied by using the computer simulation code, MCNP. In this study, three concepts of neutron beam optics (reflector and moderator) were proposed and examined; combined reflector which consists of two layers of different materials, inserting a moderator into the reflector to thermalize the neutron beam, and bending the extraction channel to avoid direct extraction of high energy neutrons. Combined reflector system produces 3.2 times higher neutron flux than no reflector when using W and Fe as outer and inner reflectors. The beam convergence is not dependent on reflector materials. Polyethylene (PE) and Fe combination produces fast neutron beam where more than 90% of the neutrons are fast. Combination of PE and D2O produces more than 30% thermalized neutron beam, but it contains epithermal and fast neutrons. When using moderator (D2O), the thickness of which is over 30 cm, more than 90% of the neutrons are thermalized. The bend angle of 20° produces more than 80% thermalized neutron beam. Both inserting moderator and bending channel are effective to extract thermalized neutron beam. These results are useful for designing a neutron source which can produce specified neutron beam.
