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Division Spotlight
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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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May 2025
Latest News
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.
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.