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
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2025
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
TerraPower begins U.K. regulatory approval process
Seattle-based TerraPower signaled its interest this week in building its Natrium small modular reactor in the United Kingdom, the company announced.
TerraPower sent a letter to the U.K.’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, formally establishing its intention to enter the U.K. generic design assessment (GDA) process. This is TerraPower’s first step in deployment of its Natrium technology—a 345-MW sodium fast reactor coupled with a molten salt energy storage unit—on the international stage.
Paul Thomet
Nuclear Technology | Volume 127 | Number 3 | September 1999 | Pages 259-266
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT127-259
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Feasibility studies of an advanced 900-MW(electric) pressurized water reactor (PWR) aiming at the total elimination of soluble boron during normal reactor operation (extended uranium cycle length of 16 GWd/t) are summarized.The neutronic consequences of this boron elimination on assembly design (poisoning, moderation ratio, cluster system, etc.) are presented. The specific assembly geometry has been optimized by taking into account a number of parameters, in particular the moderating ratio and thermal-hydraulic performances.The modifications that must be made to a standard PWR are studied (loading pattern and control rod management) to control the core with the same safety criteria as for the standard PWR, during the whole cycle, from power operation to cold shutdown. A new control rod system, with two different kinds of control rod clusters, has been developed. The first allows power control during operation while the second ensures cold shutdown. It is shown that these modifications do not require different technologies from those of present PWRs.
