ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Aug 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
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.
J. R. Seeker, R. W. Miller, L. T. Mayhue, R. N. Milanova
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 121 | Number 1 | September 1995 | Pages 142-152
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE95-A24136
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Advanced fuel, burnable absorber, and control rod designs along with advanced fuel management and power distribution control strategies will be implemented in the first operating cycle of the Czech Republic’s Temelin VVER-1000 nuclear power plants. These improvements increase safety margins, enhance operability, and improve fuel efficiency. The Westinghouse WANTAGE 6 fuel assembly design incorporates many proven advanced fuel and core design features used extensively in western pressurized water reactors. The fuel assembly incorporates mixing vane structural grids, radial enrichment zoning, ZrB2 integral fuel burnable absorbers, axial blankets, and Zircaloy guide thimbles and structural grids. Low-leakage loading patterns are also used to reduce radial neutron leakage. The rod cluster control assembly (RCCA) design incorporates two absorber materials. The absorber tip uses silver-indium-cadmium material while the remainder of the absorber material is B4C enriched in 10B. This design increases control rod worth as well as the usable lifetime of RCCA. The Westinghouse constant axial offset control operating strategy, improved RCCA design, modified RCCA overlap, and replacement of part-length RCCA by full-length RCCA are used to improve the axial power distribution control capability for VVER-1000 reactors. These design improvements provide thermal margin benefits, increase shutdown margin by almost 1.0% Ap, reduce fuel cycle costs by nearly 30%, and improve axial power distribution control.