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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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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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.
Stanley E. Turner, Marva K. Gurley
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 80 | Number 2 | February 1982 | Pages 230-237
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE82-A21427
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The AMPX-KENO computer code package is commonly used to evaluate criticality in high-density spent fuel storage rack designs. Consequently, it is important to know the reliability that can be placed on such calculations and whether or not the results are conservative. Recent critical experiments by the Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W) provide data on configurations with thin absorbers containing boron that are more nearly representative of poisoned spent fuel storage rack designs than were earlier critical experiments. A series of AMPX-KENO calculations has been made on selected critical experiments and the results compared with similar analyses reported in the literature by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and B&W. Within the normal statistical variation of KENO calculations, results confirm that there is no apparent difference in the versions of AMPX-KENO and the 123-group GAM-THERMOS libraries used at three different computer installations. Evaluation of the calculational results provides evidence for a statistically significant trend toward overprediction of reactivity with increasing reactivity worth of thin plates of boron-containing material. Similarly, statistical analyses reveal a trend toward underprediction of reactivity with increasing water-gap spacing between fuel assemblies. For most realistic spent fuel storage rack designs including neutron absorbers, these results imply that AMPX-KENO calculations are conservative and could possibly overpredict reactivity by as much as 2 to 5% Δk, based on a linear extrapolation of observed trends. Statistical analyses in support of these contentions are provided, and additional critical experiments with boron absorbers of higher reactivity worth are recommended.