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
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
Aug 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2025
Latest News
New coolants, new fuels: A new generation of university reactors
Here’s an easy way to make aging U.S. power reactors look relatively youthful: Compare them (average age: 43) with the nation’s university research reactors. The 25 operating today have been licensed for an average of about 58 years.
C. S. Barnett
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 50 | Number 4 | April 1973 | Pages 398-401
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE73-A26578
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Consider one-speed model neutron migration in an infinite homogeneous medium. Let a neutron be released from the origin at time zero. A probabilistic argument is used to show that without approximation the neutron’s mean square distance from the origin at time t, given that absorption has not occurred, is , where v is the neutron speed, λs is the scattering mean-free-path, and is the mean cosine of the scattering angle. The expression outside the brace is the diffusion theory result. For large t, the exact result tends to the diffusion theory result, while for small t, the exact result tends to (vt)2, an extreme nondiffusion result.