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The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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A series of firsts delivers new Plant Vogtle units
Southern Nuclear was first when no one wanted to be.
The nuclear subsidiary of the century-old utility Southern Company, based in Atlanta, Ga., joined a pack of nuclear companies in the early 2000s—during what was then dubbed a “nuclear renaissance”—bullish on plans for new large nuclear facilities and adding thousands of new carbon-free megawatts to the grid.
In 2008, Southern Nuclear applied for a combined construction and operating license (COL), positioning the company to receive the first such license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2012. Also in 2008, Southern became the first U.S. company to sign an engineering, procurement, and construction contract for a Generation III+ reactor. Southern chose Westinghouse’s AP1000 pressurized water reactor, which was certified by the NRC in December 2011.
Fast forward a dozen years—which saw dozens of setbacks and hundreds of successes—and Southern Nuclear and its stakeholders celebrated the completion of Vogtle Units 3 and 4: the first new commercial nuclear power construction project completed in the U.S. in more than 30 years.
B. C. Cerutti, H. V. Lichtenberger, D. Okrent, R. E. Rice, and F. W. Thalgott
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 1 | Number 2 | May 1956 | Pages 126-134
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE56-A17517
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An unmoderated chain-reacting system, the ZPR-III zero power, fast critical facility, has been put into operation at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho, as part of the Argonne National Laboratory's program to establish the feasibility of the generation of economic electric power by a fast power breeder. The first reactor built in the two-half assembly machine was a rectangular parallelepiped with a critical mass of 142.4 kg of U235 and a core composition roughly that of the proposed Experimental Breeder Reactor II. This was the first of a series of fundamental and applied experiments planned for the facility.
