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
Apr 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2026
Nuclear Technology
March 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2026
Latest News
DOE selects first companies for nuclear launch pad
The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy and the National Reactor Innovation Center have announced their first selections for the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad: three companies developing microreactors and one developing fuel supply.
The four companies—Deployable Energy, General Matter, NuCube Energy, and Radiant Industries—were selected from the initial pool of Reactor Pilot Program and Fuel Line Pilot Program applicants, the two precursor programs to the launch pad.
Benjamin S. Wang, George H. Miley
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 52 | Number 1 | September 1973 | Pages 130-141
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE73-A23296
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A Monte Carlo simulation model for radiation-induced plasmas with nonlinear properties due to recombination has been developed employing a piecewise-linearized predict-correct technique. Several variance reduction techniques are used, including antithetic variates. The resulting code is applied to the determination of the electron energy distribution for a noble-gas plasma created by alpha-particle irradiation. Results are presented for helium with an electron source rate from 1014 to 1018 electrons/(cm3 sec), initial energies from 70 to 1500 eV, pressures from 10 to 760 Torr, and electric-field-to-pressure ratios from 0 to 10 V/(cm Torr). The low-energy portion of the distribution function approaches a Maxwellian for zero field and Druyvesteyn’s distribution with an applied electric field. However, above the ionization potential and extending to the source energy, a parabolic-shaped distribution (tail) occurs.