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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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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.
E. Goldberg, L. F. Hansen, T. T. Komoto, B. A. Pohl, R. J. Howerton, R. E. Dye, E. F. Plechaty, W. E. Warren
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 105 | Number 4 | August 1990 | Pages 319-340
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE90-A21468
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Measurements of the neutron and gamma-ray leakage spectra from 15 spherical target assemblies (carbon, nitrogen, H2O, C2F4, aluminum, silicon, titanium, iron, copper, tantalum, tungsten, gold, lead, 232Th, and 238U) pulsed with 14-MeV neutrons were made using time-of-flight techniques. The spheres were ∼30 g/cm2 thick to maximize the gamma-ray leakage per central source neutron. Among all the materials studied, silicon shows the highest conversion factor (∼2 γMeV/n), and lead the lowest (0.31 γMeV/n). Monte Carlo neutron-photon transport calculations were done using the TART and SANDYL codes, with the ENDL and ENDF/B-V libraries. Comparisons with the neutron measurements confirm earlier results, where both libraries reproduced the leakage spectra for most of these materials reasonably well. The gamma spectra calculated with ENDL give a fair representation of the measurements, with the exception of the initial calculations for 16O(H2O) and 19F(C2F4), where serious discrepancies are found. Improvements were obtained for 16O after a re-evaluation of the neutron-induced cross sections based on more recent microscopic experimental data. This was also the case for 19F, where the calculations now overestimate the measurements by 30%. Calculations with the ENDF/B-V are lower than the experimental measurements for most of the materials.