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
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
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Latest News
TerraPower begins U.K. regulatory approval process
Seattle-based TerraPower signaled its interest this week in building its Natrium small modular reactor in the United Kingdom, the company announced.
TerraPower sent a letter to the U.K.’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, formally establishing its intention to enter the U.K. generic design assessment (GDA) process. This is TerraPower’s first step in deployment of its Natrium technology—a 345-MW sodium fast reactor coupled with a molten salt energy storage unit—on the international stage.
Nicola Rizzi, Jose I. Marquez Damian, Thomas Kittelmann, Bent Lauritzen, Esben Klinkby, Quentin Estiez, Valentina Santoro
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 198 | Number 1 | January 2024 | Pages 92-100
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2023.2196926
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Nanodiamonds have attracted attention in recent years for their exceptional albedo of slow neutrons. Several theoretical models have been proposed to compute the total elastic cross section. However, these models neglect the relatively complex internal structure and chemical composition of the diamond nanoparticles, relying often on the monodisperse structureless spheres approximation. In this work, we explore the possibility of adding the small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) process for nanodiamonds to NCrystal, a library that enables calculations for Monte Carlo simulations of neutrons in polycrystalline materials and powders. This approach aims to describe the scattering process also at neutron wavelengths below the diamond Bragg cutoff where simple models usually struggle. The extension relies on modeling the SANS process through the fitting of experimental data as well as theoretical inputs. The code can then be coupled with an existing simulation framework, such as McStas, and benchmarked in different setups. We tested the plugin for two properties of diamond powder nanoparticles: the backward reflection of very cold neutrons and the quasispecular reflections of cold neutrons. The validation of this simulation tool is intended to pave the way for the design of the beam extraction system for a future high-intensity cold neutron moderator at the European Spallation Source.