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
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Sep 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2025
Latest News
General Atomics marks completion of ITER’s superconducting fusion magnet
General Atomics last week celebrated the completion of the central solenoid modules for the ITER reactor being built in southern France. Designed to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion power, the ITER tokamak will be the world’s largest experimental fusion facility.
P. Goldschmidt
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 49 | Number 3 | November 1972 | Pages 263-273
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE72-A22541
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Pontryagin’s Maximum Principle and Robbins’ Criterion allow us to find, in the general case of intermediate reactors, the distribution of fuel enrichment that minimizes the critical mass of a reactor of given power and subject to constraints on the maximum power density and on the enrichment. The two group diffusion model is used in slab geometry. The optimal sequence of control (enrichment) zones is made up of a central constant power density zone, a zone of maximum enrichment, a zone of variable enrichment (where the control is singular) and finally an external zone of minimum enrichment (or a reflector). In the particular case of fast reactors the optimal solution does not include the singular control zone.