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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
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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Latest News
El Salvador: Looking to nuclear
In 2022, El Salvador’s leadership decided to expand its modest, mostly hydro- and geothermal-based electricity system, which is supported by expensive imported natural gas and diesel generation. They chose to use advanced nuclear reactors, preferably fueled by thorium-based fuels, to power their civilian efforts. The choice of thorium was made to inform the world that the reactor program was for civilian purposes only, and so they chose a fuel that was plentiful, easy to source and work with, and not a proliferation risk.
Technical Session|Panel|Sponsored by RPD
Tuesday, November 15, 2022|1:00–2:45PM MST|Sonoran 7
Session Chair:
Samuel E. Bays
Session Organizer:
Alternate Chair:
Massimiliano Fratoni
The Reactor Physics Division is hosting a panel discussion of the need for and development of a standard to address the initial fuel loading and startup testing of a demonstration first-of-a-kind reactor. Members of this expert panel will include program leaders from actual past reactors. The panel will include commercial reactor physics software developers with NQA-1 software quality experience. The panel will also include regulatory authority on advanced reactor licensing. Modeling software being used to design advanced reactors (fission batter, micro-, SMRs) today is typically validated using pre-existing peer reviewed integral benchmarks. Although benchmarking activities are very rigorous, the propagated uncertainties for as-built reactor systems can still be quite large. Additionally, the advanced reactor systems being considered today frequently have significant differences when compared with the historical reactor systems for which benchmarks are founded. Physics testing during reactor startup is the final opportunity for characterizing data uncertainty before hot full power operation. Therefore, a best practices standard is needed to provide guidance on how to leverage traditional startup procedures with software validation methods.
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