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
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
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
February 2025
Latest News
ARG-US Remote Monitoring Systems: Use Cases and Applications in Nuclear Facilities and During Transportation
As highlighted in the Spring 2024 issue of Radwaste Solutions, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory are developing and deploying ARG-US—meaning “Watchful Guardian”—remote monitoring systems technologies to enhance the safety, security, and safeguards (3S) of packages of nuclear and other radioactive material during storage, transportation, and disposal.
H. M. Hashemian, Wendell C. Bean
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 169 | Number 3 | November 2011 | Pages 262-278
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE10-48
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Because fourth-generation (Generation IV) reactors will operate at coolant temperatures three or four times higher than light water reactors, up to ˜1000°C, they will require instrumentation and control sensors that have been qualified for these new and extreme environmental conditions. In the next 10 to 15 years, advances in sensors and transmitters for nuclear power plants (NPPs) are expected to include fiber-optic and wireless sensors. Three fiber-optic sensing technologies - single-point interferometry, distributed fiber Bragg grating, and optical counter and encoder techniques - most closely replace the functionality of the largest market fraction of conventional non-fiber-optic instrumentation currently installed in NPPs. The qualification of fiber-optic sensors for next-generation NPPs must address concerns over radiation darkening. Wireless sensor networks, typically built on the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ANSI/IEEE 802.11 or ANSI/IEEE 802.15.4 standards, provide NPPs with the capability to employ distributed processing, thereby increasing overall system redundancy and the potential to reduce hands-on maintenance and to improve reliability. Qualification of wireless sensors for NPPs must address concerns over security, reliability, and electromagnetic interference and radio-frequency interference. An appropriate industry standard should resolve all these concerns.
