ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
April 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
Yuri Orechwa
Nuclear Technology | Volume 170 | Number 3 | June 2010 | Pages 383-396
Technical Paper | Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT10-A10325
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Traditionally, the safety of a nuclear reactor system has been assessed through a set of mechanistic calculations of bounding accident sequences using conservative models. Extensive experience in the operation and analysis of nuclear reactor systems has led to two complementary approaches: best-estimate mechanistic calculations with a quantitative estimate of the uncertainty for assessing conformance with acceptance criteria based on technical limits and probabilistic risk analysis of the event sequences due to the probability of failure of safety systems. Both assess the safety of the reactor system; however, the emphasis, especially in the estimation of probabilities, is different in the two approaches. Yet both address the same concern: the safety of the reactor system. We discuss the formal relations that are necessary for a risk-consistent analysis of the safety of the nuclear reactor systems with respect to the two current approaches.