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
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
Dec 2025
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
January 2026
Nuclear Technology
December 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
November 2025
Latest News
AI at work: Southern Nuclear’s adoption of Copilot agents drives fleet forward
Southern Nuclear is leading the charge in artificial intelligence integration, with employee-developed applications driving efficiencies in maintenance, operations, safety, and performance.
The tools span all roles within the company, with thousands of documented uses throughout the fleet, including improved maintenance efficiency, risk awareness in maintenance activities, and better-informed decision-making. The data-intensive process of preparing for and executing maintenance operations is streamlined by leveraging AI to put the right information at the fingertips for maintenance leaders, planners, schedulers, engineers, and technicians.
John C. Lee
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 54 | Number 2 | June 1974 | Pages 206-214
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE74-A23410
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Application of a θ-difference technique to the finite-difference solution of xenon-induced spatial transients has been made, which shows a substantial improvement in the accuracy of the calculated stability index and oscillation period. Virtually no correction is necessary for time-step lengths up to two hours, so an accurate simulation of experimental tests can be performed explicitly in the time domain with fairly crude time-step lengths. A simple expression was obtained for the optimum value of the parameter, θ, that can minimize the calculational error for a broad range of the core stability. The method is expected to be applicable for controlled xenon transients as well as for free-running oscillations.