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
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
August 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Remembering ANS member Gil Brown
Brown
The nuclear community is mourning the loss of Gilbert Brown, who passed away on July 11 at the age of 77 following a battle with cancer.
Brown, an American Nuclear Society Fellow and an ANS member for nearly 50 years, joined the faculty at Lowell Technological Institute—now the University of Massachusetts–Lowell—in 1973 and remained there for the rest of his career. He eventually became director of the UMass Lowell nuclear engineering program. After his retirement, he remained an emeritus professor at the university.
Sukesh Aghara, chair of the Nuclear Engineering Department Heads Organization, noted in an email to NEDHO members and others that “Gil was a relentless advocate for nuclear energy and a deeply respected member of our professional community. He was also a kind and generous friend—and one of the reasons I ended up at UMass Lowell. He served the university with great dedication. . . . Within NEDHO, Gil was a steady presence and served for many years as our treasurer. His contributions to nuclear engineering education and to this community will be dearly missed.”
Yu Liu, Michael Nishimura, Liqian Li, Karen Colins
Nuclear Technology | Volume 197 | Number 1 | January 2017 | Pages 75-87
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NT16-97
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
With the advancement of computer and communication technologies, wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are increasingly used in nuclear and space applications of radiation dose monitoring, earth observation, etc. In both cases, intensive radiation effects on electronic survivability are a concern. Gamma-ray damaging mechanisms in semiconductor devices are described as, and specifically linked to, semiconductor property changes in detectors, transistors, and integrated circuits. Radiation damage is cumulative and can result in the premature failure of WSN nodes. Thus, radiation-resistant electronics are commonly used for space and nuclear applications. However, these devices present a significant cost, especially when monitoring large areas. This paper focuses on studying a protocol stack that achieves an effective compromise in the cost and performance in a large-scale gamma radiation environment. The probability density function of a Weibull distribution is used to model failures of individual nodes in simulated WSNs. The distribution parameters are based on results of radiation-damage tests performed on semiconductor devices in the Gamma-220 facility (60Co source) at the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL). The simulation of the protocol stack proposed in this paper through network simulator 2 (NS2) and the resulting performance analyses could provide useful design insights and considerations for nuclear and space applications. Our work is the first study on designing an environmentally adaptive protocol stack in a large-scale gamma radiation environment for nuclear and space applications.
