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Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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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.
Atsuyuki Suzuki, Ryohei Kiyose
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 44 | Number 2 | May 1971 | Pages 121-134
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE71-A19662
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The problem of optimal control rod withdrawal sequence is formulated for a multizone core model of a nuclear reactor. In particular, the maximum average burnup problem for light-water reactors is investigated to find the governing principles in optimal control rod programming. The optimal solution depends only on end-of-life (EOL) states, and in the optimal state, the control poisons are all withdrawn from the entire core and the power distribution will be as uneven as possible within the constraints on the power peaking factor. We define the core composition, including the control poison, which represents the nuclear performance of each zone and it is taken as an independent control vector. The admissible control is defined such that the control vector satisfies the criticality condition and the constraints of power peaking factor. Some complexities of the other constraints to be considered are resolved by determining the reachable region of the burnup of each zone which is chosen as a state vector. The method described in this study is based on a topological mapping theory, and for illustrative purposes, the results in the case of a two-zone model are shown by using the method.