ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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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Latest News
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
Masahiro Ueta, Masakazu Ichimiya, Hiroshi Hirayama, Masayuki Asano, Hisaaki Ikeuchi, Katsuhisa Sekine, Tetsuhiko Kodama, Kenichiro Sato
Nuclear Technology | Volume 100 | Number 1 | October 1992 | Pages 1-12
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT92-A34749
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The core support structure of a fast breeder reactor supports the fuel assemblies, supplies sodium coolant to the fuel assemblies, and maintains the insertability of control rods even during an earthquake. The core support structure is designed as a box fabricated of welded plates, ribs, and cylinders that distribute the load in a diverse manner, in order to reduce the weight and to fulfill safety-related functions. This box structure was not adopted in the Monju prototype reactor; thus, a method to evaluate the structural integrity of this structure must be developed. To prepare design guidelines, structural integrity was studied in accordance with the requirements and features of the box structure. This study consisted of the evaluation of crack propagation under loadings on cracks with hypothetical dimensions as well as an ordinary structural design method. To clarify the crack propagation behavior, partial-scale model tests were conducted that simulated typical core support structure parts. From the results of these experiments, the crack growth rate was evaluated and incorporated into the structural integrity evaluation method. Finally, the structural integrity of the core support structure of the Japanese demonstration reactor is evaluated by this method.