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Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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
A look inside NIST’s work to optimize cancer treatment and radiation dosimetry
In an article just published by the Taking Measure blog of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Stephen Russek—who leads the Imaging Physics Project in the Magnetic Imaging Group at NIST and codirects the MRI Biomarker Measurement Service—describes his team’s work using phantom stand-ins for human tissue.
Justin M. Pounders, Farzad Rahnema
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 163 | Number 3 | November 2009 | Pages 243-262
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE163-243
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The definition of the multigroup diffusion coefficient for reactor physics problems is not unique; rather, it is based on limiting approximations made to the Boltzmann transport equation. In this paper, we present several new diffusion closures in an attempt to gain increased accuracy over the standard P1-based diffusion theory. First, the Levermore-Pomraning flux-limited diffusion theory is applied to reactor physics problems both in its original form and in a new modified form that makes the methodology more robust with respect to the energy variable. Additionally, two novel definitions of the diffusion coefficient are introduced that permit a neutron flux that is greater than first order in angle. These various diffusion theories are completed by developing consistent boundary conditions for each case. Diffusion theory solutions are computed for each unique closure and are compared against transport theory analytically for a simple half-space problem and numerically for a suite of simplified one-dimensional reactor problems. Conclusions and observations are made for each diffusion method in terms of its underlying assumptions and accuracy of the benchmark solutions.