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
Latest Magazine Issues
May 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2026
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
NRC proposes changes to its rules on nuclear materials
In response to Executive Order 14300, “Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,” the NRC is proposing sweeping changes to its rules governing the use of nuclear materials that are widely used in industry, medicine, and research. The changes would amend NRC regulations for the licensing of nuclear byproduct material, some source material, and some special nuclear material.
As published in the May 18 Federal Register, the NRC is seeking public comment on this proposed rule and draft interim guidance until July 2.
Üner Çolak, Volkan Seker
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 149 | Number 2 | February 2005 | Pages 131-137
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE04-17
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In this study, the criticality analysis for a pebble bed reactor, HTR-10, is performed with Monte Carlo simulations. The MCNP4B code package is utilized in the analysis with ENDF/B-VI continuous energy cross sections. The full core with the initial loading case is considered in simulations. The variation of the effective multiplication factor as a function of core loading height is also analyzed. Three different geometrical models are employed to see the effect of geometrical detail on the criticality calculations. Results are compared with diffusion calculations as well as the experimental data. Results show that the use of the homogenized fuel zone model does not yield acceptable results and underestimates the core criticality. However, the results obtained by using models with uniform and randomly distributed coated fuel particles in the fuel zone are in quite good agreement and there is not any systematic difference. Furthermore, criticality values do not change significantly with different random arrangements of coated fuel particles in fuel spheres. However, the random and irregular arrangements of pebbles may result in statistically different criticality values at least due to varying streaming effect.