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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
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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.
R. S. May, J. M. Sorensen, R. E. Engel
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 103 | Number 1 | September 1989 | Pages 81-93
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE89-A23662
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Plant transient calculations for reactor accidents and operational transient events must be performed and evaluated despite uncertainties in input data, empirical correlations, modeling assumptions, and evaluation criteria. The use of best-estimate analysis in conjunction with systematic evaluation of uncertainties provides an alternative to bounding analyses that may introduce unnecessarily large conservatisms. A methodology has been developed that combines established techniques for statistical analysis to deal with a general class of problems having uncertainties both in the evaluation criterion and the modeling parameters. Response surface and Monte Carlo sampling methods are used to determine the probability density function of the key output variable. This function is in turn combined with a probabilistic form of the evaluation criterion to estimate the probability that the criterion may be violated. The methodology is applied to an evaluation of the likelihood that high-pressure safety valves would be challenged by increasing pressure transient events in a boiling water reactor. Plant transient results are obtained from RETRAN-02 calculations, and safety valve characteristics are obtained from test data.