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Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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!
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Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
A. Ziya Akcasu, Alison M. Stolle
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 113 | Number 1 | January 1993 | Pages 31-55
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE93-A23992
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The application of the Langevin equation method to the study of fluctuations in the space- and velocity-dependent neutron density as well as in the detector outputs in nuclear reactors is presented. In this case, the Langevin equation is the stochastic linear neutron transport equation with a space- and velocity-dependent random neutron source, often referred to as the noise equivalent source (NES). The power spectral densities (PSDs) of the NESs in the transport equation, as well as in the accompanying detection rate equations, are obtained, and the cross- and auto-power spectral densities of the outputs of pairs of detectors are explicitly calculated. The transport-level expression for the R(ω) ratio measured in the 252Cf source-driven noise analysis method is also derived. Finally, the implementation of the Langevin equation approach at different levels of approximation is discussed, and the stochastic one-speed transport and one-group P1 equations are derived by first integrating the stochastic transport equation over speed and then eliminating the angular dependence by a spherical harmonics expansion. By taking the large transport rate limit in the P1 description, the stochastic diffusion equation is obtained as well as the PSD of the NES in it. This procedure also leads directly to the stochastic Fick’s law.