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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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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May 2025
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Latest News
DOE report: Cost to finish cleaning up Hanford site could exceed $589 billion
The cost to complete the cleanup of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state could cost as much as $589.4 billion, according to the 2025 Hanford Lifecycle Scope, Schedule, and Cost Report, which was released by the DOE on April 15. While that estimate is $44.2 billion lower than the DOE’s 2022 estimate of $640.6 billion, a separate, low-end estimate has since grown by more than 21 percent, to $364 billion.
The life cycle report, which the DOE is legally required to issue every three years under agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology), summarizes the remaining work scope, schedule, and cost estimates for the nuclear site. For more than 40 years, Hanford’s reactors produced plutonium for America’s defense program.
Nuclear Plant Instrumentation and Control & Human-Machine Interface Technology (NPIC&HMIT 2025)
Technical Session|Panel
Tuesday, June 17, 2025|1:00–2:45PM CDT|Chicago Ballroom H
Session Chair:
Dinesh Taneja
Alternate Chair:
Andrew M. Nack
Session Organizer:
Hyun Gook Kang
Nuclear plant licensees and applicants do not have many options when it comes to selecting digital equipment for safety related applications. Most digital equipment used in nuclear safety related applications were not designed "from the ground up" under a nuclear quality assurance program; therefore, they must be evaluated and accepted for nuclear safety-related applications. Current process for accepting commercial of-the-self (COTS) digital equipment is based on the NRC-endorsed EPRI TR-106439 guidance that requires verification of identified critical characteristics. For verification of the dependability characteristic, this guidance requires survey of the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) design and developmental process. These surveys are not consistent and depend largely on the level of cooperation received from the OEM. In most cases, acceptance of commercial-grade digital equipment requires first-of-a-kind efforts, involving uncertainties with respect to duration, cost, and overall success. This effort is further hampered by lack of OEM involvement, driven by the fact that the nuclear market is too small to justify OEM resources necessary to support this process. Non-nuclear process industries avoid these uncertainties by deploying digital equipment certified by an independent third-party for use in systems required to accomplish safety functions. With this insight, NEI 17-06, "Guidance on Using IEC 61508 SIL Certification to Support the Acceptance of Commercial Grade Digital Equipment for Nuclear Safety Related Applications" has been developed that leverages research on the safety integrity level (SIL) certification efficacy performed by Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). NEI 17-06 provides supplemental guidance on acceptability of the dependability critical characteristics of digital equipment during the dedicating process. NEI 17-06 has been endorsed by the NRC regulatory guide (RG) 1.250, "Dedication of Commercial-Grade Digital I&C Items for Use in Nuclear Power Plants." This panel will discuss the NRC and industry perspectives on acceptance of COTS digital equipment for nuclear safety-related applications. The emphasis for this panel is placed on current practices, approaches of dedicating entities, challenges with SIL certifying bodies, regulatory concerns with 3rd party certifying bodies, and the NRC perspectives.
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