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Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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
From South Korea to Belgium: Testing a high-density research reactor fuel
The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute has developed a high-density uranium silicide fuel designed to replace high-enriched uranium in research reactors. Recent irradiation tests appear to be successful, KAERI reports, which means the fuel could be commercialized to continue a key global nuclear nonproliferation effort—converting research reactors to run on low-enriched uranium fuel.
Z. D. Whetstone, K. J. Kearfott
Nuclear Technology | Volume 176 | Number 3 | December 2011 | Pages 395-413
Technical Paper | Radiation Transport and Protection | doi.org/10.13182/NT10-118
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This research was conducted to determine the optimal way to shield a compact, isotropic neutron source into a beam for active interrogation neutron systems. To define the restricted emission angle and to protect nearby personnel when stand-off distances are limited, shielding materials were added around the source. Because of limited space in many locations where active neutron interrogation is employed, a compact yet effective design was desired. Using the Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport Code, several shielding geometries were modeled. Materials investigated were polyethylene, polyethylene enriched with 10B, water, bismuth, steel, nickel, INCONEL® alloy 600, tungsten, lead, and depleted uranium. Various simulations were run testing the individual materials and combinations of them. It was found that at a stand-off distance of 1.5 m from the source, the most effective shielding configuration is a combination of several layers of polyethylene and steel. Without any shielding, the dose is 3.71 × 10-15 Sv/source particle. With a shielding consisting of multiple layers of steel totaling 30 cm thickness interspersed with several layers of polyethylene totaling 20 cm thickness, the dose drops to 3.68 × 10-17 Sv/emitted neutron at radians opposite the shield opening. The layered shielding approach is more effective at reducing dose equivalent and neutron fluence than shields made out of single continuous layers of the same material and thicknesses. Adding boron to the polyethylene and substituting tungsten for steel would make the shielding more effective but would add mass and cost.