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Division Spotlight
Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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
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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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?
Satoshi Suzuki, Kohyu Fukunishi
Nuclear Technology | Volume 58 | Number 3 | September 1982 | Pages 379-387
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT82-A32973
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Received December 28, 1981 Accepted for Publication March 16, 1982 An auto-tuning method for optimizing regulator parameters of the control system in a nuclear power plant is presented. This method is based on control engineering techniques such as system identification for model estimation from measured plant response data and nonlinear optimization for optimal search of regulator parameters using a dynamic simulator of the control system with estimated models. The former technique uses a least-squares identification algorithm and the latter, a direct search simplex algorithm. A special feature of the developed tuning method is that selected performance parameters such as overshoot value, time to attain a peak, and the integral of the error squared between demand and controlled value can be incorporated into an optimization criterion. By simulated results, using actual feedwater control test data of the Boiling Water Reactor IV, the method usefulness and generality are confirmed. This auto-tuning method is found applicable not only to control system tuning in a nuclear power plant but also to that in other industrial fields.
