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
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Oct 2025
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
November 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
October 2025
Latest News
Nano to begin drilling next week in Illinois
It’s been a good month for Nano Nuclear in the state of Illinois. On October 7, the Office of Governor J.B. Pritzker announced that the company would be awarded $6.8 million from the Reimagining Energy and Vehicles in Illinois Act to help fund the development of its new regional research and development facility in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook.
Charles R. Marotta
Nuclear Technology | Volume 42 | Number 3 | March 1979 | Pages 350-352
Technical Note | Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT79-A32192
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A simple and accurate calculation method is presented for the variation of bubble worth in a molten core. The method depends on previous analysis of the author on reactivity increase due to compaction of unmoderated fissile systems. The average density of the fuel material after it has expanded into the bubble region is the controlling parameter of the proposed method. Comparison with detailed bubble worth calculations due to Nicholson and Goldsmith shows excellent agreement. Given a “quality” base worth case, the bubble worth variation for the perturbed system (of fuel, either moving into or out of the bubble volume) can be accurately calculated in terms of the base worth value. The proposed method can be used to evaluate the physical reasonableness of complex calculations using transport theory or Monte Carlo for estimates of bubble worth.