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
Jun 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2026
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2026
Latest News
Breaking ground on a new approach to construction
The drive to Kairos Power’s reactor demonstration site in Oak Ridge, Tenn., is not only scenic—it’s historic. Nearly 85 years ago, roughly 30,000 construction workers transformed orchards and farmland into a key Manhattan Project site. Depending on your route, you may pass by one of the three gatehouses that were once military checkpoints controlling access to Atomic Energy Commission production facilities.
R. W. Benjamin, C. E. Ahlfeld, J. A. Harvey, N. W. Hill
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 55 | Number 4 | December 1974 | Pages 440-449
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE74-A23476
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The neutron total cross section for 248Cm has been measured from 0.5 to 3000 eV using the Oak Ridge electron linear accelerator (ORELA) as a pulsed neutron source. The cylindrical samples of small diameter (1.6 to 4.0 mm) contained up to 13 mg of 97% 248Cm and 3% 246Cm in the oxide form. Samples were cooled with liquid nitrogen to reduce Doppler broadening. The thickest sample had an inverse thickness for curium isotopes of 624 b/atom, which made possible the identification of forty-seven resonances attributable to 248Cm and five resonances attributable to 246Cm. The cross-section data have been analyzed to obtain single-level Breit-Wigner resonance parameters for all observed resonances. An average level spacing of 40 ± 5 eV and an average s-wave neutron strength function of (1.2 ± 0.2) × 10-4 were determined for 248Cm. The resonance contributions to the thermal capture cross sections and the resonance integrals determined from the resonance parameters are 248Cm, = 2.51 ± 0.26 b, Inγ = 259 ± 12 b; 246Cm, = 1.2 ± 0.4 b, Inγ = 101 ± 11 b. These values compare well with the results of integral measurements.