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Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
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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.
Richard B. Vilim, Richard W. Brock
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 123 | Number 2 | June 1996 | Pages 259-271
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE96-A24187
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The trend toward increased reliance on passive features for power reactor safety makes it important to obtain the characteristics of the reactor system from measurements on the system. A method is described for solving for the delayed neutron parameters in a liquid-metal power reactor by fitting an analytic solution of the point-kinetics equations to the flux die-away from a dropped rod in an initially critical core. The method includes treatment of those conditions found in a power reactor that depart from those in a critical assembly experiment. These include a comparatively long rod drop time and a detector signal that instead of providing an integrated count rate is a sampled data signal proportional to the instantaneous fission power. The delayed neutron parameter values calculated from a rod drop experiment in the Experimental Breeder Reactor II are in agreement with values calculated using first principles and knowledge of core material composition and nuclear cross sections.