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
Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
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August 2024
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Taking shape: Fusion energy ecosystems built with public-private partnerships
It’s possible to describe fusion in simple terms: heat and squeeze small atoms to get abundant clean energy. But there’s nothing simple about getting fusion ready for the grid.
Private developers, national lab and university researchers, suppliers, and end users working toward that goal are developing a range of complex technologies to reach fusion temperatures and pressures, confounded by science and technology gaps linked to plasma behavior; materials, diagnostics, and electronics for extreme environments; fuel cycle sustainability; and economics.
Mohamed A. Elsaied, Alya A. Badawi, Nader M. A. Mohamed, Ahmed El Saghir, Asmaa G. Abo Elnour
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 194 | Number 4 | April 2020 | Pages 270-279
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2019.1698238
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Egyptian Second Research Reactor (ETRR-2) is a pool-type reactor, 22 MW thermal, with 27 fuel elements loaded with 60Co production facility in the most relative highest flux position for the production of 200 Ci/g specific activity. The production of this specific activity needs a very long irradiation time and continuity of operation to produce useful quantities of 60Co over a reasonable period, which means that the reactor would have to operate 24 h a day, for 5 to 7 days a week. This requirement for the production of cobalt with the required specific activity is difficult to meet in ETRR-2, so this position needs to be reused for the production of other radioisotopes that require shorter irradiation times compared to cobalt. Iridium-192 is the most important radioactive isotope of iridium; it can be used in the production of “sealed sources” for industrial or medical applications. In this study, we did a full neutronic analysis of the ETRR-2 reactor core with iridium and with cobalt and compared both cases. We used two different models: a model using the MCNP code (Monte Carlo Neutron Photon), and another model using the WIMS/CITVAP code (a deterministic code). The models were validated with the results of the experiments done during the commissioning of the radioisotope production facility. We concluded that 500 g of iridium could be used instead of 577 g of cobalt in the core, and 24 molybdenum production plates would fulfil the fixed experiment design criteria, which is lower than 1200 pcm. The average axial/radial flux inside the tube was lower when using iridium disks than when using cobalt pellets because of the difference between the neutron absorption cross sections of 191Ir, 193Ir, and 59Co. When comparing the average radial flux inside the irradiation position near the edge of the iridium pellets inside the tube, we found that the flux would be higher for iridium than cobalt because of the empty part of the tube. We also calculated the power peaking factor over the whole core and found it was 2.12, which fulfilled the design criteria (must be less than 3).