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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
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!
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RP3C Community of Practice’s fifth anniversary
In February, the Community of Practice (CoP) webinar series, hosted by the American Nuclear Society Standards Board’s Risk-informed, Performance-based Principles and Policies Committee (RP3C), celebrated its fifth anniversary. Like so many online events, these CoPs brought people together at a time when interacting with others became challenging in early 2020. Since the kickoff CoP, which highlighted the impact that systems engineering has on the design of NuScale’s small modular reactor, the last Friday of most months has featured a new speaker leading a discussion on the use of risk-informed, performance-based (RIPB) thinking in the nuclear industry. Providing a venue to convene for people within ANS and those who found their way online by another route, CoPs are an opportunity for the community to receive answers to their burning questions about the subject at hand. With 50–100 active online participants most months, the conversation is always lively, and knowledge flows freely.
Michael G. Stamatelatos, Daisy M. Ligon, Achilles G. Adamantiades
Nuclear Technology | Volume 64 | Number 3 | March 1984 | Pages 249-267
Technical Paper | Economic | doi.org/10.13182/NT84-A33355
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The application of a value-impact methodology to a nuclear safety system design analysis has been investigated. The theoretical framework of multi-attribute decision theory and cost-benefit analysis is combined with reliability, availability, and probabilistic risk assessment techniques to analyze three design alternatives for the auxiliary feedwater system of a pressurized water reactor. Selected attributes pertaining to financial impact, investment risk, health risk, and licensability are used to rank the alternatives. External factors—such as the effect on the schedule of other plants, impact on property value, and emotional effects on population—that are potentially large were not considered. Standard reference tables were developed as a user’s guide for value-impact calculations.
