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Division Spotlight
Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
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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October 2024
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August 2024
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.
S. R. Bierman, K. L. Garlid and R. W. Albrecht
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 22 | Number 2 | June 1965 | Pages 206-214
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE65-A20239
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The complementary nature of pulsed-neutron and reactor-noise techniques in the investigation of reactor dynamic parameters is illuminated by considering the response of a reactor to two types of forcing functions. One of these forcing functions is the impulse function employed in pulsed-neutron studies, while the other is derivable from the inherent randomness of the nuclear events taking place in the reactor. Both the prompt-neutron density following a burst of neutrons into a reactor system and the spectral density of the reactor noise can be expressed in terms of the prompt-neutron decay constant, α. This, in turn, is related to the ratio β/ℓ and the reactivity of the system. Either technique can be used to measure α; however, in practice, each is limited according to a ‘figure of merit’ for a given experimental situation. Measurements made on both subcritical and critical assemblies in the Critical Mass Laboratory at Hanford illustrate the complementary feature of these two techniques and their usefulness in verifying each other's experimental results.