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.
Division Spotlight
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.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Jun 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2025
Nuclear Technology
July 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
NRC cuts fees by 50 percent for advanced reactor applicants
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has announced it has amended regulations for the licensing, inspection, special projects, and annual fees it will charge applicants and licensees for fiscal year 2025.
Mark Nelkin
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 7 | Number 3 | March 1960 | Pages 210-216
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE60-A25704
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An improved theoretical basis is presented for the interpretation of the pulsed-neutron technique for measuring thermal-neutron absorption cross sections and transport parameters. A procedure is given for the exact solution of the Fourier-transformed, multivelocity transport equation in an infinite medium. The objective is the calculation of the decay constant of the thermalized neutron flux following an initial pulse of fast neutrons. The method used is an expansion of the decay constant and neutron spectrum in a power series in the Fourier-transform variable. The procedure is first illustrated for the case of isotropic scattering and then generalized to anistropic scattering by using the spherical harmonics expansion. The results are given in terms of integral equations whose solution involves a knowledge of the energy-transfer cross sections between thermal neutrons and the moderating material. The approach employed is to extract the maximum amount of information which is independent of these cross sections and to derive explicitly the equations involving them. It is necessary to solve these equations in order to obtain more accurate information. Finally, the relation of the infinite medium Fourier transform variable to the geometric buckling of a finite sample is discussed. It is noted that the conventional interpretation of the experiments in terms of the diffusion coefficient and diffusion cooling coefficient requires the assignment of an equivalent infinite medium buckling to each finite sample measured. The discussion in the present paper makes plausible the validity of this procedure.