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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
2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott 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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
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Nuclear Technology
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Latest News
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.
Hungyuan B. Liu
Nuclear Technology | Volume 109 | Number 3 | March 1995 | Pages 314-326
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT95-A35080
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A design for a slab reactor to produce an epithermal neutron beam and a thermal neutron beam for use in neutron capture therapy (NCT) is described. A thin reactor with two large-area faces, a “slab” reactor, was planned using eighty-six 20% enriched TRIGA fuel elements (General Atomics, San Diego, California) and four B4C control rods. Two neutron beams were designed: an epithermal neutron beam from one face and a thermal neutron beam from the other. The planned facility, based on this slab-reactor core with a maximum operating power of 300 kW, will provide an epithermal neutron beam of 1.8 × 109 nepi/cm2·s intensity with low contamination by fast neutrons (2.6 × 10−13Gy· cm2/nepi) and gamma rays (<1.0 × 10−13 Gy·cm2/nepi) and a thermal neutron beam of 9.0 × 109 nth/cm2·s intensity with low fast-neutron dose (1.0 × 10−13 Gy·cm2/nth) and gamma dose (<1.0 × 10−13 Gy·cm2/nth). Both neutron beams will be forward directed. Each beam can be turned on and off independently through its individual shutter. A complete NCT treatment using the designed epithermal or thermal neutron beam would take 30 or 20 min, respectively, under the condition of assuming 10 µg 10B/g in the blood. Such exposure times should be sufficiently short to maintain near-optimal target (e.g., 10B, 157Gd, and 235U) distribution in tumor versus normal tissues throughout the irradiation. With a low operating power of 300 kW, the heat generated in the core can be removed by natural convection through a pool of light water. The proposed design in this study could be constructed for a dedicated clinical NCT facility that would operate very safely.
