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Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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Smarter waste strategies: Helping deliver on the promise of advanced nuclear
At COP28, held in Dubai in 2023, a clear consensus emerged: Nuclear energy must be a cornerstone of the global clean energy transition. With electricity demand projected to soar as we decarbonize not just power but also industry, transport, and heat, the case for new nuclear is compelling. More than 20 countries committed to tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050. In the United States alone, the Department of Energy forecasts that the country’s current nuclear capacity could more than triple, adding 200 GW of new nuclear to the existing 95 GW by mid-century.
C. N. Kelber
Nuclear Technology | Volume 13 | Number 1 | January 1972 | Pages 95-98
Technical Paper | Technique | doi.org/10.13182/NT72-A31071
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The concept of a dual spectrum facility for the assay of reactor fuel is extended here to include the assay of thermal reactor fuel as well as LMFBR fuel, and the problems of neutron filter choice and moderator choice are examined. Finally, an estimate is made of the resistance of the concept to errors introduced by tampering with the plutonium distribution. The dual spectrum concept involves oscillating fuel against a standard in a hard spectrum in a dilute fast critical assembly, then softening the spectrum by introducing a moderator into the voids in the assembly, and oscillating the fuel inside various neutron absorbers or filters. The choice of moderator and of neutron filter is a set of design variables; the objective of this work is to determine that set of design variables which yields the lowest estimated bound on the error inherent in the fuel assay, and to extend these considerations to the assay of thermal reactor fuel. It is concluded that the filters hafnium, boron, and cadmium, together with water or graphite moderator, offer an optimal design set. The errors in the assay of fuel are, roughly, inversely proportional to the mass content of the fuel; the resistance to tampering is found to be high.