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
Jun 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2026
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2026
Latest News
Breaking ground on a new approach to construction
The drive to Kairos Power’s reactor demonstration site in Oak Ridge, Tenn., is not only scenic—it’s historic. Nearly 85 years ago, roughly 30,000 construction workers transformed orchards and farmland into a key Manhattan Project site. Depending on your route, you may pass by one of the three gatehouses that were once military checkpoints controlling access to Atomic Energy Commission production facilities.
S. B. Brumbach, R. W. Goin, S. G. Carpenter
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 98 | Number 2 | February 1988 | Pages 103-117
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE88-A28490
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Recent measurements in the zero-power physics reactor have been used to study the effects of spatial decoupling in fast reactor critical assemblies of various sizes and compositions. Flux distributions in these assemblies had varying degrees of sensitivity to perturbations. Decoupling was investigated using rod-drop, boron-oscillator, and noise-coherence techniques, which emphasized different times following perturbations. Equilibrium flux distributions were also measured for subcritical configurations with inserted control rods. For most assemblies, accurate reactivity measurements were obtained by analyzing the power history from a single detector using inverse kinetics methods, assuming an instantaneous efficiency change for the detector. The instantaneous efficiency change assumption broke down, however, in assemblies with zones in which normal plutonium fuel was replaced by 235U fuel or fuel with a high 240Pu content. Flux redistributions caused by perturbations in these cores took several minutes to evolve.