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Division Spotlight
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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Latest News
Can hydrogen be the transportation fuel in an otherwise nuclear economy?
Let’s face it: The global economy should be powered primarily by nuclear power. And it probably will by the end of this century, with a still-significant assist from renewables and hydro. Once nuclear systems are dominant, the costs come down to where gas is now; and when carbon emissions are reduced to a small portion of their present state, it will become obvious that most other sources are only good in niche settings. I mean, why use small modular reactors to load-follow when they can just produce that power instead of buffering it?
Byoung Kyu Jeon, Cheol Ho Pyeon, Hyung Jin Shim
Nuclear Technology | Volume 191 | Number 2 | August 2015 | Pages 174-184
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT14-83
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Experiments on the isothermal temperature reactivity coefficient (ITRC) have been carried out at the light water–moderated core with or without a D2O tank in the Kyoto University Critical Assembly. The ITRC experiments are analyzed by a continuous-energy Monte Carlo (MC) neutron transport analysis code, McCARD. Through the temperature changes of H2O and D2O, effects of the coolant density changes in moderator and reflector regions and the microscopic cross-section variations on the ITRC are investigated by sensitivity analyses with the use of the MC adjoint-weighted perturbation method. An adjoint-weighted correlated sampling method for the stochastic mixing technique of cross-section libraries is devised to estimate the reactivity change from a perturbation of the thermal scattering cross sections due to the temperature change. From results of the MC perturbation analyses, it is clearly seen that the ITRCs of the two core configurations are dominated by a negative contribution of the number density change of hydrogen in the moderator region and a positive contribution of the thermal scattering cross-section change of hydrogen in the reflector region.