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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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
April 2025
Nuclear Technology
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Latest News
U.S. uranium production up as companies press “go” on dormant operations
U.S. uranium production increased throughout 2024, with more growth planned in 2025. The producers who can make that happen, however, were burned before by a “renaissance” that didn’t take off. Now they are watching and waiting for signals from Washington, D.C., including the impacts of tariffs, shifting relationships with global uranium producers, and funding for the enrichment task orders designed to boost demand for U.S. uranium.
Patrick J. O’Neal, Sunil S. Chirayath, Qi Cheng
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 196 | Number 7 | July 2022 | Pages 811-823
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2021.2024037
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A nuclear forensics technique, based on the maximum likelihood method, for the attribution of reactor type, fuel burnup, and time since irradiation (TSI) of separated pure plutonium (Pu) samples was previously developed at Texas A&M University. The method utilized measured values of ten intra-elemental isotope ratios in the Pu sample and a large database consisting of the values for these ratios as a function of the three attributes: reactor type, fuel burnup, and TSI. However, this method failed for Pu samples with mixed attributes. Hence, a new technique based on machine learning methods was developed that matched the capabilities of the previous maximum likelihood method for pure Pu samples. This new methodology used support vector machines for reactor-type discrimination and Gaussian process regression for fuel burnup quantification. The TSI was calculated analytically using the predicted reactor type and fuel burnup. This new method holds great potential for the attribution of mixed Pu samples.