ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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Nuclear Technology
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May 2025
Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Robert B. Hayes
Nuclear Technology | Volume 168 | Number 3 | December 2009 | Pages 852-857
MC Calculations | Special Issue on the 11th International Conference on Radiation Shielding and the 15th Topical Meeting of the Radiation Protection and Shielding Division (PART 3) / Radiation Measurements and Instrumentation | doi.org/10.13182/NT09-A9318
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
It is shown that basic measurements made from well-defined source detector configurations can be readily converted into benchmark quality results by which Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) input stacks can be validated. Specifically, a recent measurement made in support of national security at the Nevada Test Site is described with sufficient detail to be submitted to the American Nuclear Society's Joint Benchmark Committee for consideration as a radiation measurement benchmark. From this very basic measurement, MCNP input stacks are generated and validated both in predicted signal amplitude and spectral shape. Not modeled at this time are those perturbations from the more recent pulse-height-light tally feature, although what spectral deviations are seen can be partially attributed to not including this small correction. The value of this work is as a proof-of-concept demonstration that well-documented historical testing can be converted into formal radiation measurement benchmarks. This provides evidentiary support that validated virtual testing could eventually be carried out for various detection system technologies including algorithms, new detector designs, constructions, and arbitrary source and shielding assemblies.