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Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy
The mission of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division (NNPD) is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology while simultaneously preventing the diversion and misuse of nuclear material and technology through appropriate safeguards and security, and promotion of nuclear nonproliferation policies. To achieve this mission, the objectives of the NNPD are to: Promote policy that discourages the proliferation of nuclear technology and material to inappropriate entities. Provide information to ANS members, the technical community at large, opinion leaders, and decision makers to improve their understanding of nuclear nonproliferation issues. Become a recognized technical resource on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and security issues. Serve as the integration and coordination body for nuclear nonproliferation activities for the ANS. Work cooperatively with other ANS divisions to achieve these objective nonproliferation policies.
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2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
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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.
Michel Mélice
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 37 | Number 3 | September 1969 | Pages 451-477
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE69-A19119
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper presents a new attempt towards the development of a systematic method for solving the fuel cycling management optimization problem in modern PWR cores. When the infinite multiplication factor k is used as a single variable to describe the fuel distribution over the core at any stage of its life, the analysis of any reloading pattern can be performed on the basis of its corresponding k-map in the X-Y plane, or more simply, on the basis of its equivalent “k-profile” in cylindrical geometry. Conversely, it is shown how the reloading pattern can be synthesized from the k-profile, which becomes, therefore, the main tool of the method. The search for the best k-profile rests on the analysis of the necessary relations existing, for any particular reloading mode (batch, multiregion, salt-and-pepper, etc.) between the k-profiles and cycle times, and on the use of a cycle “internal optimality condition” aiming to maximize the reactivity of the reloading k-profile, and consequently, the cycle life time, with a constraint on the power-peak factor. As a result, the general many-variable cycling problem can be contracted into a single control-variable problem which, in turn, can be separated into the following two simpler tasks: a cycle internal optimization problem consisting of finding the reloading mode and the single control variable which minimize the stationary cycle cost and a cycle external optimization problem aiming to minimize the cost penalty associated with any deviation of the cycling sequence from the optimal stationary cycle. Using the particular class of optimal k-profiles complying with the maximum power (minimum peak factor) condition, the method is applied to the analysis of the stationary and transient cycles of the SENA reactor, with the three-region mixed reload mode. The methods for calculating the optimal profile classes corresponding to an arbitrary peak factor are also indicated.