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 Winter Conference & Expo
November 15–18, 2026
Phoenix, AZ|Arizona Grand Resort & Spa
Latest Magazine Issues
Sep 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2026
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Westinghouse, Nordion, and PSEG team up to produce Co‑60 in the United States
This past January, Westinghouse Electric Company, Nordion, and PSEG Nuclear formalized agreements to implement newly developed cobalt-60 production technology at Units 1 and 2 of PSEG’s Salem nuclear power plant in New Jersey, with the Co-60 to be supplied to Nordion. Through an ongoing joint initiative, the companies aim to harness U.S. pressurized water reactors to produce a key medical isotope and build the first commercial-scale Co-60 production platform in the United States.
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.