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Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy
The mission of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division (NNPD) is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology while simultaneously preventing the diversion and misuse of nuclear material and technology through appropriate safeguards and security, and promotion of nuclear nonproliferation policies. To achieve this mission, the objectives of the NNPD are to: Promote policy that discourages the proliferation of nuclear technology and material to inappropriate entities. Provide information to ANS members, the technical community at large, opinion leaders, and decision makers to improve their understanding of nuclear nonproliferation issues. Become a recognized technical resource on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and security issues. Serve as the integration and coordination body for nuclear nonproliferation activities for the ANS. Work cooperatively with other ANS divisions to achieve these objective nonproliferation policies.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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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Commercial nuclear innovation "new space" age
In early 2006, a start-up company launched a small rocket from a tiny island in the Pacific. It exploded, showering the island with debris. A year later, a second launch attempt sent a rocket to space but failed to make orbit, burning up in the atmosphere. Another year brought a third attempt—and a third failure. The following month, in September 2008, the company used the last of its funds to launch a fourth rocket. It reached orbit, making history as the first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket to do so.
M. H. Du Toit, A. C. Cilliers
Nuclear Technology | Volume 187 | Number 3 | September 2014 | Pages 260-269
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-134
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Many studies have proven that thorium-based fuel cycles are more expensive than current uranium fuel cycles, which is confirmed in this paper as well. This research, however, goes beyond the conventional nuclear plant refueling cycle, aiming to optimize the refueling cycle in line with specific advantages realized from the thorium-based refueling cycle. These benefits are the good thermal neutronic characteristics of fertile 232Th and fissile 233U, resulting in longer refueling cycles, higher capacity factors, and reduced volumes of spent fuel. This paper focuses on once-through, homogeneously mixed, thorium-uranium fuel cycles and explores the economic advantages to introducing thorium as a fertile component in pressurized water reactor fuels as compared to once-through conventional uranium-only cycles. The economic evaluation compares the operational savings incurred as a result of longer fuel cycles and reduced reactor downtime with increased fuel expenses, due to higher initial enrichment of uranium and downblending with thorium. Uranium fuel is compared with thorium-uranium fuel in terms of the fuel cycle costs, reactor downtime cost due to refueling, and income due to electricity sales. Thorium-uranium fuel costs more than uranium, but the income from electricity sales and reactor downtime refueling cost is advantageous. These factors have also been taken into account and prove that the advantage of increased income outweighs the higher fuel costs. Issues related to longer fuel cycles and higher burnups need to be addressed, but the development and adoption of once-through, homogeneous, thorium-uranium fuel can be justified by a clear economic benefit for utilities operating nuclear power plants.