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.
Constantine P. Tzanos, Elias P. Gyftopoulos, Michael J. Driscoll
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 52 | Number 1 | September 1973 | Pages 84-94
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE73-3
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An iterative optimization method based on linearization and linear programming is developed. The method can be used for the determination of the material distributions in a fast reactor which maximize or minimize integral reactor parameters that are linear functions of the neutron flux and the material volume fractions. The method has been applied to the problems of optimization of the fuel distribution in a reactor of fixed power output, constrained power density, and constrained material volume fractions so as to obtain (a) a maximum initial breeding gain, (b) a minimum critical mass, and (c) a minimum sodium void reactivity. Under this realistic set of constraints, numerical results show that the same fuel distribution yields maximum breeding gain, minimum critical mass, minimum sodium void reactivity, and uniform power density.