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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Mar 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
Nathalie Marie, Annick Billebaud, Sébastien Chabod, Anatoly Kochetkov, Antonin Krása, François-René Lecolley, Jean-Luc Lecouey, Grégory Lehaut, Nadia Messaoudi, Guido Vittiglio, Jan Wagemans
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 200 | Number 1 | March 2026 | Pages S332-S341
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2025.2453789
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In this article, we evaluate how the use of threshold fission chambers (FCs) affects the performance of the current-to-flux (CTF) technique being considered for accelerator-driven system (ADS) reactivity monitoring. These detectors are envisaged because of their longer service life in the lead-bismuth eutectic reactor of the MYRRHA ADS. For this purpose, we study an extract of the new CTF experiments carried out at the GUINEVERE facility, equipped with FCs featuring 235U or 238U deposits. The extract selected for its representativeness is about the measurement of the change in subcriticality of the VENUS-F reactor triggered by the removal of one of the control rods (CRs) from its core. The results show that raw CTF reactivity values depend on the composition of the FC used and on its relative position to the CR moved. The space-energy effects, which distort the reactivity values, are understood with the help of simulations computed with the Monte Carlo neutron transport code MCNP. Based on simulated fluxes and detector count rates at all assembly positions, we investigate the physics mechanisms of absorption and diffusion by the boron carbide filling the CRs, which wear away the flux around the CRs. The amplitude of the phenomenon depends on the neutron energy and the position relative to the CR and consequently affects differently the FCs with or without a fission threshold placed close to the neutron absorber.