ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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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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.
Michael Khazen, Arie Dubi
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 141 | Number 3 | July 2002 | Pages 272-287
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE02-A2282
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Estimation of the probabilities of rare events with significant consequences, e.g., disasters, is one of the most difficult problems in Monte Carlo applications to systems engineering and reliability. The Bernoulli-type estimator used in analog Monte Carlo is characterized by extremely high variance when applied to the estimation of rare events. Variance reduction methods are, therefore, of importance in this field.The present work suggests a parametric nonanalog probability measure based on the superposition of transition biasing and forced events biasing. The cluster-event model is developed providing an effective and reliable approximation for the second moment and the benefit along with a methodology of selecting near-optimal biasing parameters. Numerical examples show a considerable benefit when the method is applied to problems of particular difficulty for the analog Monte Carlo method.The suggested model is applicable for reliability assessment of stochastic networks of complicated topology and high redundancy with component-level repair (i.e., repair applied to an individual failed component while the system is operational).