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.
Weston M. Stacey, Jr.
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 40 | Number 1 | April 1970 | Pages 73-90
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE70-A18880
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The multigroup neutron kinetics equations are derived and investigated for the case when the within-group weighting spectra, which are used in defining group constants, are space- and time-dependent. New terms are introduced by the space- and time-dependence of these weighting spectra. The derivation is carried through the hierarchy of operations by which the continuous space, time, and lethargy dependence is replaced by a discrete representation. The new terms do not alter the usual positivity properties associated with the discrete multigroup kinetics equations, provided that certain conditions are satisfied. Conditions are also established which are sufficient to ensure that the discrete representation is adjoint consistent; i.e., the discrete representation of the adjoint equation is mathematically adjoint to the discrete representation of the direct equation. A similar development is presented for the Spectral Synthesis approximation. Conditions are established for the adjoint consistency of the discrete representation. The type of positivity argument made for the multigroup equations is shown to be invalid for the Spectral Synthesis equations.