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.
Division Spotlight
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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.
J. I. Katz
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 180 | Number 1 | May 2015 | Pages 117-122
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE14-81
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Deuterium-deuterium and deuterium-tritium reaction rates may be compared to determine plasma temperatures in the 10- to 200-eV range. Distinguishing neutrons from these two reactions is difficult when yields are low or unpredictable. Time-of-flight (TOF) methods fail if the source is extended in time. These neutrons may be distinguished because inelastic scattering of more energetic neutrons by carbon produces a 4.44-MeV gamma ray and because hydrogenous material preferentially attenuates lower-energy neutrons. We describe a detector system that can discriminate between lower- and higher-energy neutrons for fluences as low as O(102) neutrons per sterad even when TOF methods fail, define a figure of merit, and calculate its performance over a broad range of parameters.