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 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Jul 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2026
Nuclear Technology
August 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
The human factor in licensing and operating the next generation of nuclear plants
As human factors specialists working at the intersection of human performance and nuclear operations, we are witnessing one of the nuclear sector’s most significant transitions in decades. The emergence of small modular reactors, microreactors, and other advanced designs is reshaping the industry’s landscape. Digital instrumentation and controls, passive safety systems, and increased automation are creating opportunities for greater safety margins and more flexible operation. These same features also fundamentally redefine what it means to “operate” a nuclear plant. Interactions among human roles, automation, and passive systems shape how people maintain awareness, exercise judgment, and intervene when necessary. These developments affect both operational realities and the regulatory foundations on which nuclear safety is built.
Baiba V. Harrington, Geoffrey Constantine
Nuclear Technology | Volume 109 | Number 1 | January 1995 | Pages 11-20
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT95-A35065
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A calculational model of the entire core of the DIDO class reactor HIFAR has been used to analyze epithermal neutron beam experiments. In the experiments, an off-center fuel element was replaced by a dummy fuel element voided by a dry liner in which an aluminium spectrum shifter was suspended at core center to extract the beam. Various combinations of the filter materials aluminum, iron, sulfur, titanium, and cadmium were inserted near the top of the dry liner, and liquid argon was placed in a cryostat above the dummy element. Reaction rates were measured in a fission chamber, sandwiched between various thicknesses of polyethylene, in order to assess the accuracy of the calculational model for different regions of the neutron energy spectrum of the beam. The neutron source distribution of the HIFAR core was obtained from a three-dimensional diffusion calculation, with burnup-dependent fuel compositions and fission products included, using the AUS modular code scheme. Argon cross sections were generated from ENDL-84 data and resonance parameters taken from Neutron Cross Sections (1984). A whole-core MCNP source calculation was used to analyze the experiments giving good agreement between measured and calculated reaction rates. This whole-core model of HIFAR may be applied with confidence to predict the performance of filtered beams for boron neutron capture therapy and also to other HIFAR calculations.