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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.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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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Latest News
Is waste really waste?
Tim Tinsley
I’ve been reflecting on the recent American Nuclear Society Winter Conference and Expo, where I enjoyed the discussion on recycling used nuclear fuel to recover valuable minerals or products for future applications. I have spent more than 30 years focusing on dissolving and separating nuclear material, so it was refreshing to hear the case for new applications being made. However, I feel that these discussions could go further still.
Radiation is energy, something that our society seems to have an endless need for. A nuclear power station produces a lot of radiation that is mostly discarded. But once fuel has been used, it still produces significant levels of radiation and heat energy. The associated storage, processing, and eventual disposal of this used fuel requires careful management and investment to protect systems and people from the radiation. Should we really disregard—and discard—this energy source, along with all the valuable minerals in the used fuel, when we could instead use it to deliver significant value to society?
I. Hill, N. Soppera, M. Bossant
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 178 | Number 3 | November 2014 | Pages 280-294
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE14-37
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The 2014 International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments (IRPhEP Handbook) spans over 30 000 pages and contains 136 evaluations. In the handbook, evaluations are grouped by reactor type (light water reactor, heavy water reactor, liquid metal cooled fast reactor, etc.) and contain up to ten different types of measurements, each of which can be applied to code and nuclear data validation. Despite the thoughtful organization and strict format rules for evaluations, identifying suitable validation cases remains challenging. To assist with searching and trending the IRPhEP Handbook, a relational database and user interface named IDAT (IRPhEP Database and Analysis Tool) was developed. IDAT was first distributed with the 2013 edition of the IRPhEP Handbook and will be updated annually as evaluations are added and revised. Data characterizing the measurements were extracted to allow for searching and trending in IDAT. Measurement types in the database include criticality, buckling, spectral characteristics, reactivity effects, reactivity coefficients, kinetics, reaction rates, and power distribution measurements. Additionally, the database contains calculated quantities, such as neutron flux/capture/fission spectrum data, neutron balance data, and keff sensitivity data, along with tools to visualize these data. IDAT can employ data to assist in the identification of similar experiments using a variety of metrics, within a “Rank Similar” pane. For each measurement in the database, there is also a “Trending” pane, allowing multilevel plots of calculated over experimental values allowing users to drill down by applying various filters. This paper describes the creation of IDAT as well as its features.