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
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Jan 2025
Jul 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2025
Nuclear Technology
January 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Article considers incorporation of AI into nuclear power plant operations
The potential application of artificial intelligence to the operation of nuclear power plants is explored in an article published in late December in the Washington Examiner. The article, written by energy and environment reporter Callie Patteson, presents the views of a number of experts, including Yavuz Arik, a strategic energy consultant.
Ronald E. Engel, John M. Sorensen, Randall S. May, Kenneth J. DOran, N. G. Trikouros, Eugene S. Mozias
Nuclear Technology | Volume 93 | Number 1 | January 1991 | Pages 65-81
Technical Paper | Nuclear Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT91-A34519
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and GPU Nuclear Corporation have completed a demonstration project that provides justification for relaxing the high-pressure setpoints for the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station. The project was undertaken because an undesirable overlap had been identified in the high-pressure setpoints when accounting for measurement uncertainties experienced during plant operation. The project employed a statistical combination of uncertainties (SCU) process to provide increased margin for measurement uncertainties. This approach was used because previous experience indicated that there was insufficient margin to justify the desired setpoints using conventional deterministic inputs to the safety analysis and plant performance analysis processes. Through the use of SCU methodology and other deterministic analyses, it is possible to provide comprehensive bases for the desired technical specification changes to the high-pressure setpoints. The SCU process is based on the EPRI setpoint analysis guidelines, and it requires the development of response surfaces to simulate RETRAN peak pressure calculations for the limiting transient events. The use of response surfaces adds an intermediate step to the SCU process, but reduces the number of RETRAN cases required to make appropriate statistical statements about the result probabilities. Basically, each response surface is an approximation of the RETRAN code for one particular event and one output variable of interest, which is valid over a limited region. The response surfaces can be sampled very inexpensively using simple Monte Carlo methods. The basic input to the development of a response surface is a set of results obtained from specific RETRAN cases. Each case includes a particular set of parameters consistent with an experimental design selected to ensure that all of the parameter dependencies are carefully considered and that the response surface fit has a reasonably small fitting error. The parameters selected for incorporation into the response surface are identified through a screening process that uses RETRAN analyses to establish the sensitivity of the event results to the parameter uncertainty. The parameter screening process, the selection of the experimental design, and the development of the response surfaces are described, and the analysis results are provided.