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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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 Science and Engineering
March 2025
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February 2025
Latest News
Colin Judge: Testing structural materials in Idaho’s newest hot cell facility
Idaho National Laboratory’s newest facility—the Sample Preparation Laboratory (SPL)—sits across the road from the Hot Fuel Examination Facility (HFEF), which started operating in 1975. SPL will host the first new hot cells at INL’s Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC) in 50 years, giving INL researchers and partners new flexibility to test the structural properties of irradiated materials fresh from the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) or from a partner’s facility.
Materials meant to withstand extreme conditions in fission or fusion power plants must be tested under similar conditions and pushed past their breaking points so performance and limitations can be understood and improved. Once irradiated, materials samples can be cut down to size in SPL and packaged for testing in other facilities at INL or other national laboratories, commercial labs, or universities. But they can also be subjected to extreme thermal or corrosive conditions and mechanical testing right in SPL, explains Colin Judge, who, as INL’s division director for nuclear materials performance, oversees SPL and other facilities at the MFC.
SPL won’t go “hot” until January 2026, but Judge spoke with NN staff writer Susan Gallier about its capabilities as his team was moving instruments into the new facility.
18th International Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Analysis (PSA 2023)
Workshop
Sunday, July 16, 2023|12:00–5:00PM EDT|Marriott Knoxville Downtown
Max. Attendees: 50
Description: Dynamic PRA methodologies explicitly account for the time element in probabilistic system evolution and heavily incorporate plant analysis/simulator tools to model possible dependencies between failure events that may arise from hardware/software/firmware/process/ human interactions. Dynamic PRA methodologies can also quantify the effects of phenomenological variability and model uncertainties on the consequences of upset conditions. They can benefit the PRA modeling of passive systems, including the representation of aging effects and digital instrumentation and control systems.
The workshop's objective is to provide a perspective on dynamic PRA methodologies, the circumstances under which they may be needed, and the existing challenges with their deployment. The use of some of the available software tools will be demonstrated.
Agenda
12:00 - 12:10 pm
Welcome and Introduction of Participants – Askin Guler Yigitoglu
12:10 - 12:25 pm
Dynamic PRA: A Historical Perspective by Tunc Aldemir (OSU) and Askin Guler Yigitoglu (ORNL)
12:25 - 12:45 pm
Current Activities and Methods by Valentin Rychkov and Claudia Picoco (EDF)
12:45 - 01:05 pm
01:05 - 01:45 pm
RAVEN Overview by Mohammad G. Abdo (INL)
01:45 - 02:30 pm
EMRALD Overview by Robby Christian (INL)
2:30 - 2:50 pm
Break
2:50 - 03:30 pm
EMRALD Demonstration by Robby Christian (INL)
3:30 - 4:15 pm
RAVEN LWR Demonstration by Mohammad G. Abdo (INL)
4:15 - 4:30 pm
DPRA for Advanced Reactors by Askin Guler Yigitoglu (ORNL)
4:30 - 5:00 pm
Wrap-up and Open Discussion
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Attachment — Statecharts as a Dynamic Method for PRA_Abstract
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