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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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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.
Jeré A. Hassberger, John C. Lee
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 102 | Number 2 | June 1989 | Pages 153-171
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE89-A23640
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An expert system for diagnosing operational transients in a nuclear power plant is discussed. Hypothesis and test is used as the problem-solving strategy with hypotheses generated by an expert system that monitors the plant for patterns of data symptomatic of known failure modes. Fuzzy logic is employed as the inferencing mechanism with two complementary implication schemes to handle scenarios involving competing failures. Hypothesis testing is performed by simulating the behavior of faulted components using numerical models. A filter has been developed for systematically adjusting key model parameters in an attempt to obtain agreement between simulations and actual plant data. Pattern recognition is employed as a decision analysis technique for choosing among several hypotheses based on simulation results. An artificial intelligence framework based on a critical functions approach is used to deal with the complexity of a nuclear plant. A prototype system for diagnosing transients in the reactor coolant system of a pressurized water reactor has been developed to test the algorithms described here. Results are presented for the diagnosis of data from the Three Mile Island Unit 2 loss-of-feedwater/small-break loss-of-coolant accident.