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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!
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A webinar, and a new opportunity to take ANS’s CNP Exam
Applications are now open for the fall 2025 testing period for the American Nuclear Society’s Certified Nuclear Professional (CNP) exam. Applications are being accepted through October 14, and only three testing sessions are offered per year, so it is important to apply soon. The test will be administered from November 12 through December 16. To check eligibility and schedule your exam, click here.
In addition, taking place tomorrow (September 19) from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m. (CDT), ANS will host a new webinar, “How to Become a Certified Nuclear Professional.” More information is available below in this article.
Felix Pino, Jessica C. Delgado, Matteo Polo, Erica Fanchini, Anna Selva, Joana Minga, Gianmarco Torilla, Lodovico Ratti, Sandra Moretto
Nuclear Technology | Volume 210 | Number 10 | October 2024 | Pages 1975-1984
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2024.2304993
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper describes the characterization of a fast neutron facility located at Legnaro National Laboratories’ Van de Graaff CN accelerator. The neutron flux is produced by the Be() reactions, generated by a beryllium thick target bombarded with 5-MeV protons. An iterative unfolding algorithm combined with a pulse shape discrimination technique were used to obtain the energy distributions of the emitted neutrons at different angles and to compute the absolute neutron flux as a function of the proton current. With a proton current of 180 nA and a distance of 5 cm from the emission point, a maximum neutron flux of 2.6 10 cm−2 s−1 (15%) was obtained.
The gamma-ray component made up around 32% of the total radiation field. The measurements were taken with a Stilbene scintillation detector, therefore a comprehensive study of the detector was also performed, including energy calibration, determination of the proton light output function, and intrinsic neutron detection efficiency. Based on the results and the capabilities of the Stilbene detector, it can be concluded that this detector is suitable for fast neutron flux characterization. It enables quick measurements and real-time monitoring of the neutron field.