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
Jul 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2026
Nuclear Technology
July 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
The deadline arrives: Checking in on the Reactor Pilot Program
On May 23, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14301, “Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the DOE,” which instructed the Department of Energy to create a Reactor Pilot Program (RPP)—a new system in which companies could pursue DOE authorization to build and test their first-of-a-kind nuclear technologies. EO 14301 set an ambitious goal for that program: three reactors achieving criticality by July 4, 2026.
M. K. Sheaffer, M. J. Driscoll, I. Kaplan
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 48 | Number 4 | August 1972 | Pages 459-466
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE72-A22513
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A one-group method for the calculation of neutron balances in fast reactor cores is developed and evaluated. The key feature of the method is the definition of two spectrum characterization parameters in terms of spectrum-averaged one-group cross sections for the homogenized core composition: where ξel is the mean logarithmic energy decrement for elastic moderation and ∑f, ∑TR, and are fission, transport, and removal cross sections, respectively. All required cross sections can then be correlated in the form = σ1 Sg (where and g are constants; one pair of values correlated for each cross section) except for threshold fission for which = σ1Rg. A rapidly converging iterative procedure is presented through which S and R can be determined for any core composition. Microscopic cross-section data are correlated in the above form using the 26-group ABBN multigroup set as parent data. The one-group method is tested for 45 different fast reactor core compositions by comparing the results of the one-group calculations with those of 26-group calculations. The results are found to agree within an average error of ±1.77% in the material buckling or to ±0.69% in effective multiplication factor. One-group relationships are also developed for the calculation ofprompt-neutron lifetime, Doppler reactivity, and other parameters of interest.