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Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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WM2026: Leveraging advanced technology and innovation
The noticeable exuberance within the nuclear community as a whole appears to have spilled over into the waste management sphere as well, judging from the 2026 Waste Management Conference, held March 8–12 in Phoenix, Ariz., and sponsored by Waste Management Symposia.
The theme of this year’s conference was “Efficient and Innovative Nuclear Materials and Technology Solutions,” and many of the scheduled panels and technical sessions revolved around how nuclear growth and technological advancements are affecting the back end of the fuel cycle, as well as how the cleanup of legacy sites is enabling new nuclear development.
Jesson Hutchinson, Timothy Valentine
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 161 | Number 3 | March 2009 | Pages 357-362
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE161-357
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Subcritical measurements were conducted with an alpha-phase plutonium sphere using the 252Cf source-driven noise analysis method. Measurements were performed with both polyethylene and acrylic reflectors. For each reflector type, five different reflector thicknesses were investigated: 0 (bare), 1.27, 2.54, 3.81, and 7.62 cm. A certain ratio of spectral quantities that depends on the fluctuations in the fission chain multiplication process was measured for each configuration. In addition, two types of Monte Carlo calculations were employed to estimate the keff and spectral ratio values of each configuration. From the measured and computed quantities, the multiplication and uncertainty of the system can be inferred. The polyethylene measurements compared well to previous measurements conducted with the same plutonium sphere and polyethylene reflector thicknesses. The acrylic measurements provide benchmark data of an alpha-phase plutonium sphere reflected by acrylic.
