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
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
Dec 2025
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
January 2026
Nuclear Technology
December 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
November 2025
Latest News
AI at work: Southern Nuclear’s adoption of Copilot agents drives fleet forward
Southern Nuclear is leading the charge in artificial intelligence integration, with employee-developed applications driving efficiencies in maintenance, operations, safety, and performance.
The tools span all roles within the company, with thousands of documented uses throughout the fleet, including improved maintenance efficiency, risk awareness in maintenance activities, and better-informed decision-making. The data-intensive process of preparing for and executing maintenance operations is streamlined by leveraging AI to put the right information at the fingertips for maintenance leaders, planners, schedulers, engineers, and technicians.
Gad Shani
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 65 | Number 1 | January 1978 | Pages 183-187
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE78-A27142
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The hybrid fusion reactor is becoming an interesting and promising model. In the present Note, a method for controlling the breeding-fission ratio is investigated. Since 238U fission occurs mainly with fast neutrons and breeding occurs with intermediate and slow neutrons, an optimal ratio can be obtained by partial slowing down of the original 14.9-MeV neutrons. This is done using iron as the moderator. Uranium samples were irradiated with 14.9-MeV neutrons from a deuterium-tritium reaction with iron layers of various thicknesses between the samples and the neutron source. It was found that with a relatively thin layer of iron (12 cm), any breeding-fission ratio can be obtained within a range of two decades. The breeding rate changes by only 50% when the iron-slab thickness changes from 0 to 12 cm, while the fission rate follows (more or less) the 14-MeV neutron flux and drops by more than two decades. Good agreement was obtained between the measurement and the calculated results.