ANS News

ANS President Marilyn Kray has expressed support for the continued recovery operations at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which sustained damage in the aftermath of a March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Kray sent a letter on March 3 to Hiroshi Kajiyama, head of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), about the work of the ministry’s Subcommittee on Handling of the ALPS (Advanced Liquid Processing System) Treated Water and the findings of a February 2020 subcommittee report.

To raise awareness about safe, clean, and reliable nuclear energy and enrich the experiences of students in nuclear science and technology, ANS student sections around the country will soon be hosting a first-ever 5K fundraiser.

“Nuclear Power: Let’s Keep It Running” is launching on Earth Day (April 22) and will consist of an online donation platform where student sections can form teams, organize runs, and connect to donors within their communities and throughout the country. Proceeds will support ANS student section activities and the ANS Student Program.

The Risk-informed, Performance-based Principles and Policy Committee (RP3C), a special committee of the ANS Standards Board, has launched a Community of Practice (CoP) to support risk-informed, performance-based (RIBP) methods in ANS standards. The CoP consists of interested professionals who can contribute to standards development priorities identified in the Standards Committee Strategic Plan and in ANS Position Statement #46, “Risk-Informed and Performance-Based Regulations for Nuclear Power Plants.”

Certificates commemorating 25 or 50 years of ANS membership are being delivered to the members listed below. The Gold certificate recipients are celebrating 50 years of ANS membership in 2020, having joined in 1970. The Silver certificate recipients, who joined ANS in 1995, have maintained ANS membership for 25 years.

ANS Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy offered ANS members an update on Change Plan 2020 on February 24. If you missed the live webinar, you can visit the ANS Member Center to view it now.

The American Nuclear Society was formally accepted as a Nuclear Innovation: Clean Energy Future (NICE Future) initiative partner organization in January, joining ten countries and 14 partner organizations to direct the global conversation about the roles nuclear energy can play in clean energy systems of the future.

The ANS Standards Committee has just published ANSI/ANS-19.6.1-2019, “Reload Startup Physics Tests for Pressurized Water Reactors” (revision of ANS-19.6.1-2011). The standard, approved December 19, 2019, provides guidance for verifying the nuclear characteristics of a commercial pressurized water reactor core following a refueling or other alteration of the reactor core for which nuclear design calculations are required. The standard provides the minimum acceptable startup physics test program, while recognizing that additional tests may be required by special design features of a particular core.