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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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Deep Space: The new frontier of radiation controls
In commercial nuclear power, there has always been a deliberate tension between the regulator and the utility owner. The regulator fundamentally exists to protect the worker, and the utility, to make a profit. It is a win-win balance.
From the U.S. nuclear industry has emerged a brilliantly successful occupational nuclear safety record—largely the result of an ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) process that has driven exposure rates down to what only a decade ago would have been considered unthinkable. In the U.S. nuclear industry, the system has accomplished an excellent, nearly seamless process that succeeds to the benefit of both employee and utility owner.
Louis M. Shotkin, Yutaka Kukita
Nuclear Technology | Volume 119 | Number 3 | September 1997 | Pages 217-234
Technical Paper | Nuclear Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT97-A35399
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Westinghouse has submitted the new AP600 reactor design for certification under the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulations for standard designs. The NRC has performed confirmatory testing in the Rig of Safety Assessment (ROSA) - V Large-Scale Test Facility run by the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI). The ROSA/AP600 test results as provided by JAERI are reviewed in terms of their implications for the original technical concerns that were to be addressed by the testing program. Implications for computer code capabilities are also discussed. Since gravity-driven natural circulation flow in a complicated piping network was a key concern, the review concentrates on this aspect of the ROSA/AP600 test results. In particular, it looks at the possible effect of system interactions at high pressure and during early depres-surization. It identifies those ROSA/AP600 test occurrences that point to processes that could delay automatic depressurization system initiation or in-containment reactor water storage tank injection. Since most of the tests run were small-break loss-of-coolant accidents (SBLOCAs), the review focusses on this type of scenario. A comparison of several SBLOCA tests is presented.