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Division Spotlight
Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
Meeting Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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!
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Latest News
Take steps on SNF and HLW disposal
Matt Bowen
With a new administration and Congress, it is time once again to ponder what will happen—if anything—on U.S. spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste management policy over the next few years. One element of the forthcoming discussion seems clear: The executive and legislative branches are eager to talk about recycling commercial SNF. Whatever the merits of doing so, it does not obviate the need for one or more facilities for disposal of remaining long-lived radionuclides. For that reason, making progress on U.S. disposal capabilities remains urgent, lest the associated radionuclide inventories simply be left for future generations to deal with.
In March, Rick Perry, who was secretary of energy during President Trump’s first administration, observed that during his tenure at the Department of Energy it became clear to him that any plan to move SNF “required some practical consent of the receiving state and local community.”1
Pietro Mosca, Claude Mounier, Pierre Bellier, Igor Zmijarevic
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 175 | Number 3 | November 2013 | Pages 266-282
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE12-63
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper shows two ways to improve the accuracy of the transport calculations. These improvements, implemented in the APOLLO2 code, concern the fission source calculation and the self-shielding models. The calculation of the fission source was generalized to fission spectra including an incident neutron energy dependence. The subgroup self-shielding model was updated for a mixture of resonant nuclides. Some tests on fast neutron systems like a critical sphere without reflector, a sodium-cooled cell, and a helium-cooled cell show that the use of four optimized incident macro groups for fission spectra guarantees a correct representation of the fission source.The tests on a critical sphere with a thick steel reflector and on a water-moderated mixed oxide cell prove that the subgroup self-shielding, accounting for the mutual shielding of several resonant nuclides, allows us to improve the accuracy of the neutron transport solution.
