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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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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Latest News
First astatine-labeled compound shipped in the U.S.
The Department of Energy’s National Isotope Development Center (NIDC) on March 31 announced the successful long-distance shipment in the United States of a biologically active compound labeled with the medical radioisotope astatine-211 (At-211). Because previous shipments have included only the “bare” isotope, the NIDC has described the development as “unleashing medical innovation.”
R. Krieg, B. Dolensky, B. Göller, W. Breitung, R. Redlinger, P. Royl
Nuclear Technology | Volume 141 | Number 2 | February 2003 | Pages 109-121
Technical Paper | Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT03-3
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Because hydrogen combustion is one of the major containment threats during severe accidents, different hydrogen mitigation measures have been implemented in nuclear power plants throughout the world. In German Konvoi plants passive autocatalytic recombiners have been selected for hydrogen risk reduction. This paper proposes a new further improved option by taking credit from both the recombiners for hydrogen releases on slow timescales and the large load-carrying capacity of the spherical steel containment for rapid releases. Therefore, the capacity of spherical steel containment shells is investigated in some detail. The hydrogen and steam distribution in the containment is simulated for a rather conservative accident scenario with a rapid hydrogen release; a large hydrogen detonation is assumed and the transient containment loads as well as the structural containment response are calculated. For all these analyses advanced methods with high time and space resolutions are applied.Detailed evaluations of the structural results considering recent experimental findings suggest that the spherical steel containment can carry the detonation loads. For the final assessment additional accident scenarios must be considered and more plant specific finite element models for the structural response must be applied. Some very local integrity issues need further investigations.