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Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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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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?
Fan Zhang, J. Wesley Hines, Jamie B. Coble
Nuclear Technology | Volume 206 | Number 7 | July 2020 | Pages 939-950
Technical Paper – Special section on the 2019 ANS Student Conference | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2019.1666599
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Most nuclear power plants (NPPs) under construction or under design are expected to deploy largely digital instrumentation and control (I&C) systems. Current fleets are increasingly looking toward converting to digital I&C systems due to the advantages of precise control, economic operation, and ease of procurement over conventional analog I&C systems. With all the benefits digital I&C systems bring, challenging cybersecurity concerns are introduced as well. Cyberattacks targeted at industrial control systems have grown in both frequency and capability in recent years. Despite efforts to air-gap digital I&C systems, NPPs can be vulnerable to these cyberattacks, as evidenced by recent cyber incidents at nuclear facilities. Cybersecurity of NPPs should be addressed in three complementary thrusts: cyberattack prevention, detection, and response. Considering the requirements of digital I&C systems, we propose a novel cybersecurity solution platform that consists of a data collection and extraction system, a multilayer cyberattack detection system, a cause analysis system with dynamic risk assessment, a cyberattack response system, and a main control room display system. This architecture also promotes cooperation between information technology experts and the operation technology team to improve cybersecurity by integrating process data together with traditional host system and network data in a unified platform. This paper presents the proposed cybersecurity architecture and demonstrates its efficacy with a simulated cyberattack on a cyber-physical system testbed. Together with traditional intrusion prevention methods and rule-based intrusion detection systems, this platform provides a solution for prevention, detection, and response to cyberattacks that is congruous with the defense-in-depth strategies of other NPP safety and security systems.