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
Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
J. H. Sorebo, G. L. Kulcinski, R. F. Radel, J. F. Santarius
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 56 | Number 1 | July 2009 | Pages 540-544
Experimental Facilities and Nonelectric Applications | Eighteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Part 1) | doi.org/10.13182/FST56-540
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) detection efforts have largely been divided into two main groups: active and passive. Passive techniques are highly desirable in that a radiation source need not be employed in order to detect fissile materials which broadcast a clear radiative signature. However, disadvantages can be seen in HEU (Highly Enriched Uranium) detection, for example, where the system's efficacy is limited by its ability to detect a weak self-radiative signature from U. Active interrogation provides a catalyst for amplifying HEU's presence vis-a-vis fission event inducement, which in turn yields a starker signature which can be discerned through an understanding of fissile materials and neutron transport in various media. Ongoing work in the Fusion Technology Institute's Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC) Experiment has focused on using the pulsed D-D neutrons from an IEC to interrogate the presence of HEU in an enclosed space. The paper begins with a brief description of the neutron-based detection schemes of Delayed Neutron Analysis (DNA) and Differential Die-Away (DDA). Experimental delayed neutron counts of ninety above the background at an interrogating neutron flux of 5.5x104 n/cm2-s are seen to confirm MCNP modeling results. MCNP is also utilized to probe future concepts in neutron-based active interrogating SNM detection systems using DDA analysis.