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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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
ANS designates Armour Research Foundation Reactor as Nuclear Historic Landmark
The American Nuclear Society presented the Illinois Institute of Technology with a plaque last week to officially designate the Armour Research Foundation Reactor a Nuclear Historic Landmark, following the Society’s decision to confer the status onto the reactor in September 2024.
D. L. Hollis
Nuclear Technology | Volume 10 | Number 3 | March 1971 | Pages 325-327
Technical Paper | Shielding | doi.org/10.13182/NT71-A30966
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A study is made of utilizing electron trapping in dielectrics as a means of reducing bremsstrahlung in spacecrafts at synchronous altitude. Traps retain electrons, and large internal electric fields are induced within the dielectric. Electrons penetrating the insulating material can lose most of their kinetic energy to the electric field with a subsequent decrease in energy loss to bremsstrahlung. This acts to reduce bremsstrahlung production. It also lowers the average radiation energy of that which is produced, with consequent increase in probability of absorption by the wall. Breakdown phenomenon causes the shielding effect of the trapped electrons to be cyclic. A thin layer of dielectric material on the external surface of a spacecraft should provide an effective, light, and inexpensive shield against bremsstrahlung while not interfering with any of the system functions. Electron-trap shielding is applicable not only to space, but wherever a dielectric-charge layer is allowed to accumulate.