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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
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Meir Segev
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 62 | Number 3 | March 1977 | Pages 412-423
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE77-A26981
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Neutronic formalisms that discretize the neutron slowing down equations in large numerical intervals currently account for the bulk effect of resonances in a given interval by the narrow resonance approximation (NRA). The NRA reduces the original problem to an efficient numerical formalism through two assumptions: resonance narrowness with respect to the scattering bands in the slowing down equations and resonance narrowness with respect to the numerical intervals. Resonances at low energies are narrow neither with respect to the slowing down ranges nor with respect to the numerical intervals, which are usually of a fixed lethargy width. Thus, there are resonances to which the NRA is not applicable. To stay away from the NRA, the continuous slowing down (CSD) theory of Stacey was invoked. The theory is based on a linear expansion in lethargy of the collision density in integrals of the slowing down equations and had notable success in various problems. Applying CSD theory to the assessment of bulk resonance effects raises the problem of obtaining efficient quadratures for integrals involved in the definition of the so-called “moderating parameter.” The problem was solved by two approximations: (a) the integrals were simplified through a rationale, such that the correct integrals were reproduced for very narrow or very wide resonances, and (b) the temperature-broadened resonant line shapes were replaced by nonbroadened line shapes to enable analytical integration. The replacement was made in such a way that the integrated capture and scattering probabilities in each resonance were preserved. The resulting formalism is more accurate than the narrow-resonance formalisms and is equally as efficient.