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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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Deep Space: The new frontier of radiation controls
In commercial nuclear power, there has always been a deliberate tension between the regulator and the utility owner. The regulator fundamentally exists to protect the worker, and the utility, to make a profit. It is a win-win balance.
From the U.S. nuclear industry has emerged a brilliantly successful occupational nuclear safety record—largely the result of an ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) process that has driven exposure rates down to what only a decade ago would have been considered unthinkable. In the U.S. nuclear industry, the system has accomplished an excellent, nearly seamless process that succeeds to the benefit of both employee and utility owner.
F. D’Auria
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 197 | Number 5 | May 2023 | Pages 987-999
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2023.2178874
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The development of the AP-1000 design and of its precursor the AP-600 started in the aftermath of the Chernobyl event (1986) when the need came from the scientific and technological community for a resilient system against deliberate threats by humans. The “passive system” design concept became relevant. The first AP-1000 entered into operation around 3 decades after that event. This paper discusses the issue of how much the progress in nuclear science and technology since the end of the 1980s has affected the AP-1000 design. Five interconnected areas are identified: (1) reliability of passive systems, (2) scaling and uncertainty, (3) coupling between three-dimensional neutron physics and thermal hydraulics, (4) consideration of large-break loss-of-coolant accidents, and (5) simulation of instrumentation and control systems. All these areas are relevant for the AP-1000 and standard pressurized water reactors; however, the areas (1) and (2) have specific applicability for the AP-1000 and constitute the main concerns of this paper. The conclusion from qualitative investigation is that the safety demonstration of the AP-1000 did not take full benefit from progress in these areas, namely, inadequacies characterize the scaling database and the processes for determining the reliability of thermal-hydraulic passive systems did not receive proper attention.
