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Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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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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Reboot: Nuclear needs a success . . . anywhere
The media have gleefully resurrected the language of a past nuclear renaissance. Beyond the hype and PR, many people in the nuclear community are taking a more measured view of conditions that could lead to new construction: data center demand, the proliferation of new reactor designs and start-ups, and the sudden ascendance of nuclear energy as the power source everyone wants—or wants to talk about.
Once built, large nuclear reactors can provide clean power for at least 80 years—outlasting 10 to 20 presidential administrations. Smaller reactors can provide heat and power outputs tailored to an end user’s needs. With all the new attention, are we any closer to getting past persistent supply chain and workforce issues and building these new plants? And what will the election of Donald Trump to a second term as president mean for nuclear?
As usual, there are more questions than answers, and most come down to money. Several developers are engaging with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or have already applied for a license, certification, or permit. But designs without paying customers won’t get built. So where are the customers, and what will it take for them to commit?
F. L. Leverenz, Jr., A. A. Garcia, J. E. Kelly
Nuclear Technology | Volume 37 | Number 1 | January 1978 | Pages 5-12
Technical Paper | Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT78-A32085
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Received February 11, 1977 Accepted for Publication September 7, 1977 One of the important findings of the Reactor Safety Study (RSS) was the identification of the risk due to an interfacing system loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA), i.e., failure of interfaces between the high-pressure primary system and the low-pressure injection system (LPIS). Because equivalent interfaces exist in all pressurized water reactors (although not necessarily with the LPIS), the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has included in its Standard Review Plan three equally acceptable designs intended to decrease the risk due to potential interface failures by decreasing the probability of an interfacing system LOCA. The present analysis of the RSS system configuration is in general agreement with the RSS results; however, the RSS presented a linearized estimate of the exact result, such that the probability of occurrence is overestimated from 0 to 5 yr of plant life and underestimated for plant life beyond 5 yr. In addition, this analysis shows that the NRC design options are not probabilistically equivalent; probabilistically, these options vary by four orders of magnitude, and one option could be implemented in such a way as to yield a probability of occurrence greater than the RSS evaluated design. Finally, as a demonstration of the power inherent in the probabilistic methods, the analysis itself reveals the dominate system failure (gross check valve leaks) leading to a limiting design that eliminates this failure mode and reduces the probability to an insignificant level