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.
Division Spotlight
Young Members Group
The Young Members Group works to encourage and enable all young professional members to be actively involved in the efforts and endeavors of the Society at all levels (Professional Divisions, ANS Governance, Local Sections, etc.) as they transition from the role of a student to the role of a professional. It sponsors non-technical workshops and meetings that provide professional development and networking opportunities for young professionals, collaborates with other Divisions and Groups in developing technical and non-technical content for topical and national meetings, encourages its members to participate in the activities of the Groups and Divisions that are closely related to their professional interests as well as in their local sections, introduces young members to the rules and governance structure of the Society, and nominates young professionals for awards and leadership opportunities available to members.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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
Jun 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
July 2024
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
NRC engineers share their expertise at the University of Puerto Rico
Robert Roche-Rivera and Marcos Rolón-Acevedo are licensed professional engineers who work at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They are also alumni of the University of Puerto Rico–Mayagüez (UPRM) and have been sharing their knowledge and experience with students at their alma mater since last year, serving as adjunct professors in the university’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. During the 2023–2024 school year, they each taught two courses: Fundamentals of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Nuclear Power Plant Engineering.
Challenge: Expedite licensing and deployment of advanced reactor designs.
How: Expedite the development and deployment of advanced reactor concepts by developing a practical path forward for applying innovative approaches to licensing inventive advanced reactor designs that reduces the regulatory burden while still ensuring safety. The regulatory system needs to meet the pace of commerce.
Background: Eliminating the difficulties facing the licensing and construction of new nuclear power plants would bring great benefits. These issues are associated with both evolutionary reactor construction as well as the construction of advanced reactor concepts. Other industries, such as the transportation or pharmaceutical industries, have achieved what appears to be a better balance between allowing for growth and innovation while maintaining safety standards. In the early years, nuclear power plant construction was done quickly, and if it could be done so again this could have a major impact on the feasibility, attractiveness, and profitability of a project. Additionally, siting and supply chain and vendor interactions can be some of the most expensive and potentially time-intensive aspects of a construction project. Without improvement, future nuclear power plant construction will remain unattractive as an investment.
Institutional difficulties associated with obtaining design certification for novel reactor technologies could be avoided by first constructing and operating a prototype plant that has sufficient extra margin and safety features to justify near-term Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approval for prototype construction and testing. This process is explicitly contemplated in 10 CFR 50.43 e(2), but is seldom or never used. Such a process could be carried out with the expectation that the results of testing and operation of a prototype plant would support subsequent expeditious certification of a viable commercial (as opposed to prototype) design.
The default path of direct design certification for a commercial design by analysis and scaled-down test facilities has proven to be extremely lengthy, even for Generation 2 plants, for which Part 50 safety requirements already exist. For other technologies lacking a current Part 50 equivalent, design certification within the traditional paradigm looks even more difficult. The proposed license-by-prototype approach would be loosely analogous to the lead test assembly approaches now used for new Light Water Reactor (LWR) fuel designs.
Data emerging from special surveillance and testing performed over many years in the first reactor module or modules would support the safety case for all subsequent reactor modules. Safety analysis for early testing in the lead reactor modules would credit the larger safety margins that exist during early operation.
Last modified May 12, 2017, 1:23am CDT