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
Mar 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Swiss nuclear power and the case for long-term operation
Designed for 40 years but built to last far longer, Switzerland’s nuclear power plants have all entered long-term operation. Yet age alone says little about safety or performance. Through continuous upgrades, strict regulatory oversight, and extensive aging management, the country’s reactors are being prepared for decades of continued operation, in line with international practice.
R. G. Alsmiller, Jr., J. Barish, C. R. Weisbin
Nuclear Technology | Volume 34 | Number 3 | August 1977 | Pages 376-386
Technical Paper | Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT77-A31802
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Calculated results have been obtained of the uncertainties in the neutron scalar flux, the energy deposition per unit volume, and the displacements per atom in the toroidal field coil of a tokamak experimental power reactor due to neutron cross-section errors in iron and carbon, which are major constituents of the blanket-shield-coil configuration considered. The calculations were carried out using perturbation theory to obtain sensitivity profiles for the various cross sections of interest, and these profiles were then combined with cross-section error estimates, including correlations, to obtain the uncertainties. Each of the three responses—the neutron scalar flux, the energy deposition per unit volume, and the displacements per atom—is found to be very sensitive to the cross sections in the energy group that contains the source (∼2.2 pJ) since a deuterium-tritium source is assumed, and each of the responses is found to have a relative standard deviation of ∼100% due to neutron cross-section errors in iron.