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Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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.
Hangbok Choi, Jongwon Choi, Myung S. Yang
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 131 | Number 1 | January 1999 | Pages 62-77
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE99-A2018
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the DUPIC fuel cycle, spent pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel is refabricated as a DUPIC fuel by a dry process. Because the spent PWR fuel composition depends on the initial enrichment and burnup conditions of PWR fuel, the composition of DUPIC fuel is not uniquely defined. To reduce the effects of such a composition heterogeneity on core performance, an adjustment of DUPIC fuel composition was studied. The composition adjustment was made in two steps: mixing two spent PWR fuel assemblies of higher and lower 239Pu contents and blending in fresh uranium with the mixed spent PWR fuels. Because the fuel and core performances depend on both the absolute amount of fissile isotopes and the ratio of major fissile isotope contents, a parametric study was performed to determine the reference compositions of 235U and 239Pu. The reference enrichments of 235U and 239Pu were determined such that the DUPIC core performance is comparable to that of a natural uranium core with high spent PWR fuel utilization and low fuel cycle cost. Under this condition, it is possible to utilize 90% of spent PWR fuels as the DUPIC fuel formula. On average, the amounts of slightly enriched and depleted uranium used for blending correspond to 8.6 and 10.6%, respectively, of the mass of candidate spent PWR fuels.