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
Latest Magazine Issues
Mar 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Hanford contractor settles fraud suit for $3.45M
Hanford Site services contractor Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS) has agreed to pay the Department of Justice $3.45 million as part of a settlement agreement resolving allegations that HMIS overcharged the Department of Energy for millions of dollars in labor hours at the nuclear site in Washington state.
J. Richard Smith, John J. King
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 19 | Number 3 | May 1991 | Pages 1925-1930
Neutronic | Proceedings of the Ninth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Oak Brook, Illinois, October 7-11, 1990) | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29623
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Neutron multiplication occurs in beryllium because of the high (n, 2n) cross section. On the basis of calculations made using microscopic nuclear data, multiplication in a beryllium blanket should improve the efficiency of a tritium breeder. Previous experiments have indicated that the net multiplication is too low for beryllium to be an effective neutron multiplier. It seemed appropriate to make a further study of the multiplication of 14-MeV neutrons in bulk beryllium, utilizing the superior isotropy and flat energy response of the manganese bath. In the manganese bath method a 14-MeV neutron source is placed at the center of a large tank containing an aqueous solution of MnSO4. With a beryllium sample surrounding the neutron source in the sample chamber, the neutrons first multiply in beryllium and produce in the manganese bath an activity proportional to the source rate times the multiplication factor. The ratio of the “sample-in” and the “open beam” activities is the raw value of the multiplication. Several systematic corrections must then be applied to deduce the true multiplication in beryllium. Uncorrected values of the multiplication have been obtained for beryllium samples of four thicknesses. For beryllium thicknesses of 4.6, 12.0, 15.6, and 19.9 cm the multiplication values are 1.399, 1.928, 2.072, and 2.126, respectively. These values are affected by several systematic effects characteristic of the manganese bath. The values of these systematic corrections are established by a combination of calculation and experimental parameterization. The detailed calculations use the Monte Carlo program MCNP. The experimental values are in good agreement with those calculated from microscopic cross sections.