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Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
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2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
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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.
M. A. Abdou, C. W. Maynard
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 56 | Number 4 | April 1975 | Pages 381-398
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE75-A26684
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The calculational methods developed for nuclear heating in an earlier paper are applied to fusion-reactor blankets and shields. The study shows that the nuclear heating in fusion-reactor blankets has been previously overestimated and is limited to ≈16 MeV per DT neutron in the absence of beryllium or fissionable materials. Methods are also examined for increasing the energy multiplication in the blanket by maximizing the rates of exothermic reactions. A general study of the sensitivity of the neutron energy deposition to changes in basic nuclear data is carried out: this study shows the following: 1. The (n, charged particles) reactions, in general, contribute ≈30 to 50% to the neutron heating in typical fusion-reactor spectra. The data for these reactions, however, are not well known and in some cases are absent from the literature. 2. Approximating the neutron heating due to the (n, n′, charged particles) reactions by that from the (n, n′) part only, amounts to ignoring 80 to 90% of the heating. 3. For reference fusion-reactor spectra, a change in the average secondary neutron energy, n′ l, of the 7Li(n, n′α)t reaction results in a relative change in the neutron heating in 7Li which is approximately one-third of that in n′, l. 4. The relative change in the neutron heating by elastic scattering due to a change in the angular distribution is larger than the relative change in . Ignoring the anisotropy of scattering can result in severely overestimated kerma factors. 5. The local energy deposition by radioactive decay is on the order of or less than 2% in most materials in typical spectra for controlled thermonuclear reactors.