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Division Spotlight
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.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
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.