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Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS 2023)
May 7–11, 2023
Idaho Falls, ID|Snake River Event Center
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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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The blossoming of cooperation between the U.S. and Canada
The United States and Canadian nuclear industries used to be an example of how two independent teams of engineers facing an identical problem—making electricity from uranium—could come up with completely different answers. In the 1950s, Canada began designing a reactor with tubes, heavy water, and natural uranium, while in the U.S. it was big pots of light water and enriched uranium.
But 80 years later, there is a remarkable convergence. The North American push for a new generation of nuclear reactors, mostly small modular reactors (SMRs), is becoming binational, with U.S. and Canadian companies seeking markets and regulatory certification on both sides of the border and in many cases sourcing key components in the other country.
Liu Xiaobo, Peng Xianjue, Lei Jiarong, Fan Xiaoqiang, Du Jinfeng, Gao Hui
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 181 | Number 1 | September 2015 | Pages 96-104
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE14-100
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Based on a new experimental method implemented for validating neutron initiation probability, a set of burst initiation probability experiments (128 bursts) that were initiated by simultaneously injecting pulsed neutrons just as the reactor achieves the prompt supercritical state of 0.042 $ has been carried out at the CFBR-II (Chinese Fast Burst Reactor–II). The experimental configuration and procedures remained the same throughout the entire set of experiments. Based on the measured data, each burst was tallied by judging whether or not the burst was initiated by the pulsed neutrons. With the injection of pulsed neutrons (the equivalent strength of the neutrons is 1230), the tallies of the burst initiated by pulsed neutrons were 44, and hence, the experimental result of initiation probability is 0.344, which is 27% more than the theoretical calculation result of 0.271. Some factors that influence the experimental results are discussed. The discrepancy is attributed mainly to neutrons that are scattered and returned from the environment during the injection of pulsed neutrons and the statistical deviation.
