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Division Spotlight
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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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Latest News
EnergySolutions to help explore advanced reactor development in Utah
Utah-based waste management company EnergySolutions announced that it has signed a memorandum of understating with the Intermountain Power Agency and the state of Utah to explore the development of advanced nuclear power generation at the Intermountain Power Project (IPP) site near Delta, Utah.
S. Oliver, S. Morató, B. Juste, R. Miró, G. Verdú, N. Tejedor, J. Pérez-Calatayud
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 198 | Number 2 | February 2024 | Pages 264-273
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2023.2192312
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
High-energy radiotherapy treatments of a medical Linear Accelerator (LinAc) generate secondary neutrons that can produce health damage on the human body as the induction of secondary cancers. The energy spectrum of these neutrons must be determined to estimate the extra dose received by patients inside a radiotherapy room during radiotherapy treatment. To quantify the neutron production, a Ludlum Bonner sphere spectrometer (BSS) is used for measurement at different points of a LinAc bunker at the Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe de València. With the neutron measured data and a set of response detector curves obtained by Monte Carlo simulations with MCNP6.1.1, the Maximum Likelihood Expectation Maximization unfolding method is used to unfold the energy neutron spectrum. Unfolded neutron spectra at different locations were compared to those obtained by Monte Carlo simulation of the same setup, showing the same energetic behavior. The fluence rate decreases with source distance, and the shape changes from a fast neutron peak in the nearest LinAc head location to a prominent thermal neutron peak in the bunker maze region. Moreover, the neutron ambient equivalent dose was obtained from the unfolded spectra and compared to Berthold detector measurements, being consistent.