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 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Jun 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2026
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2026
Latest News
Breaking ground on a new approach to construction
The drive to Kairos Power’s reactor demonstration site in Oak Ridge, Tenn., is not only scenic—it’s historic. Nearly 85 years ago, roughly 30,000 construction workers transformed orchards and farmland into a key Manhattan Project site. Depending on your route, you may pass by one of the three gatehouses that were once military checkpoints controlling access to Atomic Energy Commission production facilities.
Donald Strominger and Gordon Schlesinger
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 21 | Number 4 | April 1965 | Pages 441-450
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE65-A18788
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Solid-state p-n junction counters have been fabricated to measure fission rates of materials with different fission thresholds. The fission reactions are caused by neutrons varying in energy from thermal energies for U235 to 1.5 MeV for Th232. The data gathered from these solid-state fission counters have been used to compare experimental with calculated fission rates in the AETR cores. The fission counter is assembled by placing an electroplated foil of a fissionable material near a p-n junction detector. An aluminum cap is placed over each detector and foil to form a neat, compact assembly. The resulting counter is small enough to fit inside a reactor with minimum distortion to the neutron spectrum. Fission counters employing Th232, U233, U234, U235, U236, U238, Np237, and Pu239 as the principal fissionable material have been successfully fabricated. These solid-state fission counters have proved reliable instruments to measure neutron fluxes in high gamma-ray fields. True fission events are easily separated from other induced reactions in the counter.