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Division Spotlight
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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!
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New laws offer nuclear industry incentives for existing power plant uprates
This year, the U.S. nuclear industry received a much-needed economic boost that could help preserve operating nuclear power plants and incentivize upgrades that extend their lifespan and power output.
Signed into law in 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act offers production tax credits (PTCs) for existing nuclear power plants and either PTCs or investment tax credits (ITCs) for new carbon-free generation. These credits could make power uprates—increasing the maximum power level at which a commercial plant may operate—a much more appealing option for utilities.
Richard B. Nicholson
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 18 | Number 2 | February 1964 | Pages 207-219
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE64-A18320
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A generalized method for estimating the energy release in hypothetical fast-reactor meltdown accidents is formulated. A modification of the Bethe-Tait method is derived from this more general formulation, and comparisons are made to an improved method, programmed for the IBM-7090 computer. Two basic assumptions are utilized: that the reactivity effects during disassembly can be calculated from perturbation theory, and that the decrease in density during disassembly can be ignored in the equations of hydrodynamics. It is shown that the threshold equation of state used in the Bethe-Tait method tends to cause an overestimate of the energy release for weak and moderate excursions, and that the saturated vapor pressure must be considered in those cases. The dependence of energy release upon prompt-neutron generation time, initial power level, rate of reactivity insertion, and Doppler effect is investigated.