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
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
2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
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
Oct 2024
Jul 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
November 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
A proactive approach to reactor vessel aging management
Unit 2 at the Prairie Island nuclear power plant near Red Wing, Minn., underwent an outage in fall 2023, which included extensive work on the reactor vessel using a novel approach to replace baffle-former bolts and lower radial clevis insert bolts. The work relied on extensive analysis beforehand to determine which bolts to replace such that only the new bolts were structurally credited for performance of their safety function. This proactive approach eliminated the need for costly contingencies associated with inspections.
Pacific Basin Nuclear Conference 2024 (PBNC)
Brad Nelson has over 40 years of experience as a lead engineer and engineering manager for projects involving the design, analysis and integration of experimental equipment, systems, and facilities. Before joining Type One Energy as Vice President of Engineering, he worked as Chief Engineer for the US ITER Project, a multibillion-dollar international project to construct and operate the first full-scale fusion reactor.
Nelson’s experience includes mechanical design, analysis, and integration of complex experimental systems for fusion energy research, supervision of associated engineering groups, and coordination of mechanical design, analysis, R&D, fabrication, installation and startup of experimental devices and facilities. Three of those facilities were stellarators, including the Advanced Toroidal Facility and Quasi-Poloidal Stellarator Experiment at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the National Compact Stellarator Experiment at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.
He earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri.
Last modified August 9, 2024, 12:22pm MDT