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
Jan 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2026
Nuclear Technology
January 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
November 2025
Latest News
Jeff Place on INPO’s strategy for industry growth
As executive vice president for industry strategy at the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, Jeff Place leads INPO’s industry-facing work, engaging directly with chief nuclear officers.
Keith E. Asmussen, Paul Wälti
Nuclear Technology | Volume 15 | Number 3 | September 1972 | Pages 359-365
Technical Paper | Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT72-A16033
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The plutonium loadings were determined for a test element for irradiation in the Peach Bottom HTGR. The test element is a graphite circular cylinder with an array of eight fuel rods in a circular pattern. The fuel rods contain dense spherical kernels of PuO2 or PuO2/3 ThO2. Be cause of the strong Pu resonances, the heterogeneity effects in the test element are strongly marked. A code for treating this rather complicated problem rigorously was not available. Thus the problem was simulated within a onedimensional transport code by equating three collision probabilities. The heterogeneities were seen to result in significant grain selfshielding, rod selfshielding, and mutual shielding of the rods. The Pu loading for the central fuel body of the test element was determined to be 19.0 g.