ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
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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Latest News
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.
Irving Spiewak, Robert S. Livingston
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 90 | Number 4 | August 1985 | Pages 501-508
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE85-A18500
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
It appears likely that nuclear power plants can be operated safely in excess of the licensed 40 years. This conclusion is based on a systematic review of the plant systems and favorable experience in refurbishing old fossil plants, the Savannah River production reactors and the early British Magnox reactors. The technical areas that may present the greatest difficulty are the reactor pressure vessel, the electrical cable, and reinforced concrete structures. Utilities are also concerned about the difficulty of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's relicensing process, which has not as yet been defined. If license extensions can be obtained, utilities can afford to spend many hundreds of millions of dollars to achieve an additional ten or more years of operation. Nuclear plant life extension has favorable implications for the long-term price of electricity in systems containing nuclear power plants.