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 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Jul 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2026
Nuclear Technology
July 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
The deadline arrives: Checking in on the Reactor Pilot Program
On May 23, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14301, “Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the DOE,” which instructed the Department of Energy to create a Reactor Pilot Program (RPP)—a new system in which companies could pursue DOE authorization to build and test their first-of-a-kind nuclear technologies. EO 14301 set an ambitious goal for that program: three reactors achieving criticality by July 4, 2026.
John G. Kollas and Allan F. Henry
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 60 | Number 4 | August 1976 | Pages 464-471
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE76-A26907
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A method for obtaining homogenized group-diffusion-theory parameters for heterogeneous nodes (fuel regions plus control elements plus structure) in slab geometry is described. The parameters obtained reproduce exactly the neutron leakage and the integrated reaction rates of the node when it becomes part of a reactor. However, for asymmetric nodes they depend on the fluxes and currents at the surfaces of the node. The sensitivity of this dependence is examined for a one-group model, and numerical examples are given to illustrate that for symmetric nodes, the equivalent parameters are indeed exact and independent of conditions outside the node. For unsymmetric nodes, it is shown that using a set of parameters that is an average of two sets of “exact parameters,” one appropriate to large values of current-to-flux ratio at one of the nodal surfaces and the other appropriate to small values, still yields quite accurate results. For both cases comparisons with results obtained using standard flux-weighted parameters are made.