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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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April 2024
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February 2024
Latest News
Can hydrogen be the transportation fuel in an otherwise nuclear economy?
Let’s face it: The global economy should be powered primarily by nuclear power. And it probably will by the end of this century, with a still-significant assist from renewables and hydro. Once nuclear systems are dominant, the costs come down to where gas is now; and when carbon emissions are reduced to a small portion of their present state, it will become obvious that most other sources are only good in niche settings. I mean, why use small modular reactors to load-follow when they can just produce that power instead of buffering it?
Bernhard Kienzler, Lara Duro, Karel Lemmens, Volker Metz, Joan De Pablo, Alba Valls, Detlef H. Wegen, Lawrence Johnson, Kastriot Spahiu
Nuclear Technology | Volume 198 | Number 3 | June 2017 | Pages 260-276
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2017.1326271
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A consortium of 10 partners from seven European countries and the European Commission collaborated in investigating the short-term release of radionuclides from disposed spent nuclear fuel upon canister failure. The Collaborative Project FIRST-Nuclides was implemented in the scope of the 7th Euratom Framework Programme in the period from 2012 to 2014. The objectives and organization of the project are presented, as well as the experiments with highly radioactive materials under investigation. The outcome of the project summarizes the measured instant release fraction (IRF) of safety-relevant isotopes from high burnup spent UO2 nuclear fuels (SNFs). Specifically discussed are the dependencies of the IRF on the sample properties, the gap and grain boundary releases, and the behavior and IRFs of elements such as cesium, iodine, and selenium. The IRFs of nonstandard SNFs were also investigated. The summary is complemented by the presentation of the modeling approaches within the project.