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
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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
Jul 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
July 2025
Latest News
Applications open for the fall cohort of Mentor Match
Applications are officially open for the second cohort of the American Nuclear Society’s newly redesigned mentoring program. Mentor Match is a unique opportunity available only to ANS members that offers year-round mentorship and networking opportunities to Society members at any point in their education.
The deadline to apply for membership in the fall cohort, which will take place October 1–November 30, is September 17. The application form can be found here.
Gabriel Ghita, Glenn Sjoden, James Baciak
Nuclear Technology | Volume 159 | Number 3 | September 2007 | Pages 319-331
Technical Paper | Radiation Protection | doi.org/10.13182/NT07-A3879
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Plutonium-beryllium (Pu-Be) sources can be used as didactic source materials for special nuclear materials (SNM) detection evaluation protocols. Since limited specific information exists for many of the Pu-Be sources currently in service, before using a Pu-Be source for field studies, the leakage radiation of neutrons and gamma rays from the source must be fully assessed. Most Pu-Be sources have an outer stainless steel jacket and an inner tantalum jacket, with the Pu-Be homogeneously distributed throughout the inner jacket. To fully characterize the net leakage terms from our Pu-Be source, we applied three-dimensional radiation transport computations, including Monte Carlo (MCNP5) and deterministic (PENTRAN) methodologies. The transport model for our Pu-Be capsule is based on limited schematic and technical data. To define the decay history and resulting source spectrum, exothermic [alpha-neutron (,n)] reactions are modeled using OrigenArp in the SCALE5 package. For transport modeling purposes, the intermetallic Pu-Be compound was treated as an intimate mixture of plutonium and beryllium, based on the manufacturer's mass specifications. The net capsule leakage was derived using transport computations, and an iterative estimation of plutonium age was performed. Computational results for net leakage are in agreement with the manufacturer's specification of neutron yield and dose rate. We also combined computational results with experimental measurement data to fully validate our computational methods. We have successfully achieved agreement between computational and experimental data for our Pu-Be source leakage, and we are using the results at the Florida Institute of Nuclear Detection and Security to evaluate a prototype SNM neutron detector array for parcel screening and national security applications.