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.
Donald J. Dudziak
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 47 | Number 2 | February 1972 | Pages 230-234
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE72-A22402
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A derivation of the time-dependent forward stochastic equation is sketched for a point reactor with linear feedback and an arbitrary finite fission neutron frequency distribution. Certain pathological characteristics of possible stochastic trajectories are discussed, and limiting conjectures are made based on physical considerations. The time-independent forward stochastic equation with negative reactivity feedback is solved in the classical manner, leading to a recursion relation for the long-run probabilities. Next, all factorial moments of the long-run distribution are shown to be finite, and the corresponding probabilities, P(N,∞), are thus o(N-k) for any integer k. Following this, a more tractable recursion relation is presented for the simpler case of binary fission. For this simpler model, the equivalence to an independent analysis of the Kolmogorov forward matrix equations, as presented in a previous paper, is demonstrated. Finally, a simple recursion relation among factorial moments of the long-run distribution is derived for the binary fission model.