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
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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 2024
Jul 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
December 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
November 2024
Latest News
Bipartisan Nuclear REFUEL Act introduced in the U.S. House
To streamline the licensing requirements for nuclear fuel recycling facilities and help increase investment in nuclear energy in the United States, U.S. Reps. Bob Latta (R., Ohio) and Scott Peters (D., Calif.) have introduced the bipartisan Nuclear REFUEL Act in the House of Representatives.
The bill, introduced on December 6, would amend the definition of “production facility” in the Atomic Energy Act, clarifying that a reprocessing facility producing uranium-transuranic mixed fuel would be licensed only under 10 CFR Part 70. According to the lawmakers, this single-step licensing process would significantly streamline the licensing requirements for fuel recycling facilities.
Sean O’Brien, John Mattingly, Dmitriy Anistratov
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 185 | Number 3 | March 2017 | Pages 406-425
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2016.1272988
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
It is frequently important to estimate the uncertainty and sensitivity of measured and computed detector responses in subcritical experiments and simulations. These uncertainties arise from the physical construction of the experiment, uncertainties in the transport parameters, and counting uncertainties. Perturbation theory enables sensitivity analysis (SA) and uncertainty quantification on integral quantities like detector responses. The aim of our work is to apply SA to the statistics of subcritical neutron multiplicity counting distributions. Current SA methods have only been applied to mean detector responses and the keff eigenvalue. For multiplicity counting experiments, knowledge of the higher-order counting moments and their uncertainties are essential for a complete SA. We apply perturbation theory to compute the sensitivity of neutron multiplicity counting moments to arbitrarily high order. Each moment is determined by solving an adjoint transport equation with a source term that is a function of the adjoint solutions for lower-order moments. This enables moments of arbitrarily high order to be sequentially determined, and it shows that each moment is sensitive to the uncertainties of all lower-order moments. To close our SA of the moments, we derive forward transport equations that are functions of the forward flux and lower-order moment adjoint fluxes. We verify our calculations for the first three moments by comparison with multiplicity counting measurements of a subcritical plutonium metal sphere. For the first three moments, the most influential parameters are ranked, and the validity of first-order perturbation theory is demonstrated by examining the series truncation error. This enables a detailed SA of subcritical multiplicity counting measurements of fissionable material based on transport theory.