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
October 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Hot Fuel Examination Facility named a Nuclear Historic Landmark
The American Nuclear Society recently announced the designation of three new nuclear historic landmarks: the Hot Fuel Examination Facility (HFEF), the Neely Nuclear Research Center, and the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant. Today’s article, the first in a three-part series, will focus on the historical significance of HFEF.
Lane S. Paschal, C. L. Bentley,† Michael E. Dunn,‡ S. Goluoglu, R. E. Pevey, H. L. Dodds
Nuclear Technology | Volume 119 | Number 3 | September 1997 | Pages 295-305
Technical Paper | Nuclear Criticality Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT97-A35405
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A criticality safety study of diffusion cascade coolers in a shutdown state is presented. The coolers represent six typical cascade coolers at a gaseous diffusion plant with accumulated deposits of UO2F2. The study involves keff calculations for the coolers with various distributions of UO2F2, which are assumed as part of several hypothetical accident scenarios. The results show that at least two independent failures must occur in order to have a criticality. Additionally, the distributions chosen represent the upper bounds for keff. Individual results show that the keff values for the cascade coolers designed for 80 and 97% enriched UF6 with deposit amounts <2.409 and 2.185 kg, respectively, will not exceed 0.9 for the accident scenarios modeled. All other coolers require shell-side flooding with H2O in order to cause a criticality, which is possible only if two or more independent failures occur.
